Forget Me Not
by devilishlysas
Summary: When Emma abandoned Hook at the top of the beanstalk she had no idea just what path that decision might lead her down... straight to Neverland apparently. Never trust a Pirate Captain, especially when your survival might depend on it. Follows on from the Tallahassee episode 2x6. AU as of 2x8.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: ****Second Star To The Right**  


**Author: devilishlysas**

**Rating: NC-17 **

**Pairing: Captain Swan (Hook/Emma)  
**

**Summary: When Emma abandoned Hook at the top of the beanstalk she had no idea just what path that decision might lead her down... straight to Neverland apparently. Follows on from the Tallahassee episode 2x6.  
**

**Warning: violence; graphic imagery; some sexual scenes.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and stories from Once Upon A Time... or Disney, I'm just borrowing to stretch my own muse.  
**

Emma heard the distinctive crack of a branch which sent her shooting upright from her half slumped position alert, her eyes scanned the darkness of the forest, seeing practically nothing. What she wouldn't have given for a torch, the dying embers of the fire they weren't allowed to keep alight past dark not helping in the slightest. Her ears pricked as she waited in the general direction the noise had come from, but there was nothing else as she wrapped her leather jacket tighter around herself, trying to keep out the chill.

Emma let her eyes drift for a second over to the others, asleep on the simple rolls and wrapped in blankets beneath the makeshift tents. Mary Margaret had grown up like this, she had no problem forgetting all the mod cons that Emma relied on, it made her feel useless here, everything was just so... back to basics. Sleeping hadn't been her idea, if it had been up to her they'd have trudged on for another night without rest, she couldn't risk Hook catching up to them, 10 hours wasn't much of a head start, not if he was really that motivated to make her suffer for 'besting' him again. But the others had declared mutiny out of sheer exhaustion and set up camp, leaving her to keep watch. After all this situation was entirely her fault, she got the distinct impression that Mulan and Mary Margaret much preferred the enemy amongst them approach, right where they could have kept an eye and a sword on him. This was why she'd never been much for team sports, she'd always done better alone, no one to disappoint but herself that way.

A rustle drew her attention her head snapping round to the darkness as she eased herself up into a standing position, clutching Jack's sword that she'd appropriated. At least it saved her bullets, as she checked that her pistol was still in the holster beneath her jacket. Keeping her breathing shallow she eased forward fractionally, scanning on high alert. Certain now that there was something out there, although this was an _enchanted _forest, so the list of what might be stalking her in the night wasn't exactly comforting; particularly if it only had one hand. A twig snapped to her right and she swung her head in that direction, leaving herself vulnerable from the left as a hand snapped out and went around her mouth, the sharp point of a blade against her throat. The loosely held blade in her hand, was torn from her hand to clatter onto the forest floor uselessly.

"Shush now Princess. I'd hate to have to slit that pretty little throat of yours." The voice rasped into her ear, the words losing some of their bite as those same lips pressed a harsh kiss against that same ear. Something leaden hit her stomach as his grip intensified and he forced her to move, dragging her back into the woods, his grip around her mouth vice-like as the metal at her throat drew the first traces of blood. She didn't need to see him to know that distinctive sneer, even the fingers that grasped her were familiar... the long lithe length of his body crushed against hers was also disturbingly all too familiar. He spun her, his hand not leaving her mouth as he slammed her back forcefully against a tree, far enough now away from the camp that their hushed voices wouldn't wake her sleeping companions.

The light danced off the silver in his ear, and the curved blade of the hook that was pressed firmly against her throat as he leant in close, the rough dark stubble of his chin brushing her cheek as he whispered. "I'm going to remove my hand my Lovely. Be a dear, don't scream. I'd hate for this little reunion of ours to end so abruptly."

Emma pressed her lips into a thin line as he removed his hand... but not the hook; that remained firmly drawing a thin line of blood that was starting to sting like a son of a bitch. "Hook." She whispered back, trying not to let her disappointment cloud her voice, she'd known trusting him was a mistake, that was why she'd left him there, this just confirmed it. She should have forced them to keep walking through another night.

"Princess." His lips quirked, but she got the distinct impression he wasn't amused. "You left me tied up with a giant." He leant in and the blade cut deeper forcing her to hiss in pain. "You keep doing that my Lovely, getting the best of me." His grin was wicked. "I'm not sure it's something I care to repeat." He hadn't said her name yet she noticed, just all this 'Princess' and 'My Lovely' business, which meant he was truly pissed and trying to distance her from an actual person... god maybe he actually intended to kill her.

Fortunately her mouth was quicker than the fear he had sparked. "You're alive aren't you. As promised." Emma bit back, trying not to let it appear that she was being cowed by this pirate.

"Where's the compass?" His free hand slid across her ribs as he searched her far too thoroughly, his hand lingering too long around her breasts as he swept down her ribs, but she refused to squirm meeting his taunting gaze head on. He withdrew his hand, empty. She was grateful she'd had the presence of mind to hand it off to Mulan, the woman wasn't much of a conversationalist, but no one was getting that thing without losing _another_ hand.

"Don't you get tired of being Cora's lapdog; or is that seadog?" Emma hissed, trying to draw a reaction that didn't involve his hook sliding further across her skin. The hook slammed hard into the bark of the tree behind her head startling her as he shoved her bodily against the tree, her hands gripped onto his shirt instinctively the urge to slug him growing steadily only cowed by the blade inches from her head.

"I trusted you Princess." He was deadly calm, she could feel the slow steady thump of his heart in his chest against her, the blade of his hook caught the moonlight, shining its warning with deadly simplicity.

"Your mistake." Emma bit off, refusing to cower.

"Was it?" he pushed his leg until it was between hers, his knee rising until it became uncomfortable, forcing her dredge up every story about Captain Hook she could remember... it wasn't encouraging, he was always the bad guy. "Seems to me Princess like it was your mistake. I held up my end of the bargain, I could have been a powerful ally. We made one hell of a team you and I." His fingers wrapped around her throat, resting there lightly, the threat implied was enough as his hook glinted inches from her face. "The hero who's too afraid to put herself out there. What did that man, you did or didn't love, do exactly to turn the swan into such a bitter shrew?"

Emma felt his words hit her like the slap he'd intended and she retreated from his lips as they approached hers, forcing her head back against the bark, but leaving her nowhere else to go as he invaded the last inch of her personal space. "Let me go." She ordered him as calmly as her body would let her, because his proximity was doing strange and conflicting things to her.

"Give me a reason Lovely." His tongue traced the shell of her ear, drawing a shudder that wasn't entirely repulsion from her. Damn her stupid hormone driven body, she wasn't seventeen anymore, the bad boy thing shouldn't still reduce her to the idiot girl duped by the leather outfit and a smirk.

He'd forgotten her hands. The small dagger she'd stuck into her belt now rested between his legs. "How about I leave your manhood _mostly_ intact." He shifted uncomfortably, feeling the evidence of her ability to carry out the threat as he leant in until they were nose to nose, sharing the same breath. "Reason enough?" her smile was taunting.

"Bad form." He stole a kiss, his lips ghosting over her closed ones with promise, the blade she held lifted higher in response, as he pulled his head back with a hiss that matched hers from only moments ago. "Would you really my Lovely? You might be wanting me to use that soon enough."

Still he was flirting, but there was a definite edge to it now, the kind that made her wonder if he'd take her previous _no's_ for an answer. _Pirate_ she reminded herself as the blade of his hook slid out of the wood and back to her throat; he dragged it slowly downwards to hover above her breastbone.

"We seem to have reached something of an impasse." He quirked a mocking eyebrow at her and she felt the thin satisfied smile spread over her lips.

"No Hook. We haven't. You see you value what's between your legs. More than you value whatever Cora has over you. Me. I'll do anything to keep that witch away from my son, my world. I'd even let you carve my heart out of my chest with that hook of yours." She meant it, and he absolutely knew she did.

He paused, just a moment as he digested the truth in her words. "How can I trust you Emma? You hung me out to dry... so far Cora has at least had the sense to keep her promises." His hook traced lower until it was resting against her stomach, 'all the better to disembowel her with' she imagined. On the bright side, he had used her name again, maybe that meant he wasn't going to kill her after all, not if she was suddenly a flesh and blood person again to him.

Emboldened Emma took up the questioning "What promise did I make you Hook?" she eyed him sharply trying to see his logic. "You invited yourself along, you made your promises. I never once agreed, never once shook your hand and said I'd take you with us, never once told you I trusted you an inch." She saw the look of defiance on his face slowly slide as he reviewed their barbed conversations. Emma knew he wouldn't find the justification he was looking for, she'd been careful in her dealings with him, she'd never made any damn promise.

"Then promise me now." He hissed, leaning in and latching his mouth around the pulse point on her throat, sucking hard enough to cause her body to arch and the blade to rise a little higher into his groin. He bit down sharply against her throat, his teeth pulling the tender skin there in threat. "Come on Lovely. Don't tell me you have any love for that repellent coward of a man... Rumplestiltskin. Take me with you, let me have my revenge."

"He'll kill you." Emma grit her teeth against the feel of his lips against her skin. "Worse, he'll probably force you to become something that will make you wish you were dead."

"I'm already there my darling girl." He chuckled darkly against her skin, pressing a lingering kiss to the damaged flesh and forcing her to shudder, she longed to push him off, but personal space was never high on his agenda and one handed or not, he was currently stronger than her.

"The people of that town, they're my responsibility to protect. Even him." Emma added without hesitation. "I could never let you loose there."

"Never?" he acknowledged, pulling back to stare pointedly at her. "Such a strong word my Lovely. One day, that Crocodile will show you his teeth and you'll beg me to do what you can't and put an end to him." Emma didn't rise to his bait, just stared back resolutely.

"How about a promise then Emma; from me to you? You take me with you, let me help you get back to this precious world of yours, and I will put myself under your rule. I will make my plans against Rumple, but I will stay my hand until your oh so delicate ones point me his way?"

"Pretty speech, but you're a Pirate." Emma rolled her eyes. "You're like the King of Pirates. I'd be better off trusting Gold to keep his word than you."

"I can get you the wardrobe dust." He reminded and Emma felt something inside of her wilt, it was his only bargaining chip, but it was a good one. "You know you won't be able to retrieve it from Cora, she made a fool of you and your sweet mother Snow the last time you met. I can get it for you."

"We'll take our chances." Emma refused to let him weasel his way back into their group, into her life, certainly not at knife... well 'hook' point.

"And what about Cora?" he smirked, his eyes practically dancing now that they were back to their familiar dance, blades or not. "She will follow you to the end of the world and beyond, she'll never stop, never give in, she's a mother too after all."

"We'll stop her." Emma promised.

"I'll kill her." Hook countered and Emma stilled. _That_ she believed. "I know the way of it."

"Why would you side with us...?"

"_You."_ he corrected and she stilled, she didn't like the way he emphasised that, she'd been uncomfortable with their overly taut back and forth from the start and it seemed to have exploded now.

"Fine, why side with me instead of Cora? Like you said, she hasn't betrayed you. Arguably she has the dust and the magic to make it all work, and she wouldn't stop you from ripping Rumple into tiny hook shaped chunks."

Hook smiled, it was the kind of smile she imagined a shark gave right before it sunk its teeth in. "You think you know so much about this place, about what motivates people?" He kissed her again and she felt the honest desire in it mixed in with his need to unsettle her as he tugged at her bottom lip with his teeth trying to force her into some sort of reaction, but she was made of more stubborn stuff than that and kept her lips pressed together a look of contempt curling her lips at his insistence which seemed to amuse him as he pulled back, brushing his thumb over her unresponsive lips. "Cora will never allow me to lay a hand on Rumple's leathery head."

Emma frowned, ignoring the flick of his tongue in the corner of her mouth, but not daring to speak, it was the opening she knew he wanted. Instead she raised the knife, drawing it fluidly up to his throat and digging in enough to get him to back off and let her breathe.

"Why? Emma pressed, finally able to speak without fear of him assaulting her mouth.

Hook slid his own blade lower, until it brushed her inner thigh, switching their respective threats. "Kill her Master before he's given up all his magical secrets? I think not. Cora is many things, but a fool isn't one of them."

"Her Master?" Emma was genuinely baffled by that.

"Come now Deary, where did you think Cora and the Queen learnt it all. You don't think they just popped out of the womb black as sin, hurling curses do you?" he barked an unfathomable laugh at her. "Oh no, my Lovely, evil like that has to be made... it has to be warped and twisted into such a broken shape over years of careful cultivation. He made them what they are. He turned them into monsters, gave them the Dark Curse that ripped your family away from you, tore this whole world apart." He leant in close, whispering for her ears alone. "And he's not done. Whatever his plan, it isn't over, and you can bet it won't end well for the rest of us."

Emma breathed in shallowly, the truth of his words twisting the cold steel of suspicion in her gut. "So you'd side with me, knowing that one day he'll reveal himself and I'll see the error of my saintly ways and order you to what... skin him?"

"Something like that." His smile was all teeth and razor charm.

"You don't know me very well." She retorted.

He smirked, "Oh I think I know you well enough Emma. I know how you feel about betrayal and I have a feeling Mr Gold, won't survive crossing you."

"You want my word?" Emma forced the words out, she had no choice, she trusted his self serving nature, and if what he'd told her was true, which she had every reason to suspect it was, Regina had told her the same thing... the Curse she'd gotten from Gold; then she had to trust that he'd keep to his word, because he'd need her help to get to Gold when the time came. "Fine." She dropped the blade, holding out her hand in the non-existent space between them. "You have my word, that if you help us find the way home, I'll take you with us."

Hooks hand slid into hers, wrapping his fingers tightly around them into a tight grip that he raised to his lips and kissed. "Then we have an accord my dearest Princess Swan."

"Don't call me that." She tried to push away, hating the word Princess... it conjured the image of flowing pink frilled dresses and tiara's far too vividly; but his grip was still firm and his hooked hand had risen to gain purchase on her hip.

"And what of us my Lovely?" he teased, rolling his hips against her and letting her feel his current clearly aroused predicament. "Surely you wouldn't deny this tension between us a moment longer?"

"I really would." Emma bit back, trying to squirm out of his now eel like grasp as his hands slid around her waist, until he was crushing her with new intent against the tree. His lips descended over her collarbone and he sucked against her skin leaving fresh marks to add to those on her neck as her head rolled back. She didn't want to feel this, not for him, not with the sting of the cut he'd made on the other side of her neck still fresh. There was no way for this to end but badly. His lips rose to the back of her ear, feather light and teasing as he pressed himself against her groin, her jeans doing nothing to lessen the intensity of him. With every bit of strength as a woman scorned far too often she shoved him forcefully, wrapping her leg around his ankle and toppling him to the ground, he seemed genuinely stunned as he landed on his ass, staring up at her with a bewildered calm of a man certain he'd got her.

"Take a hint, Captain. You're really not my type." Emma strode past him, returning back to the camp, determined to hide the way her legs were trembling, in what she was mortified to realise wasn't just fear.

"I won't give up on us Emma." He called after her, climbing gracefully to his feet as he strolled along behind her. "Maybe you don't realise, but playing hard to get with a Pirate... that's just teasing really." He caught up with her as she retrieved Jack's blade from where he'd forced her to drop it as he seemed to dance along behind her with gleeful menace as they approached the camp where she'd have to explain to her no doubt thrilled companions that he'd be joining them again. The image of Mary Margaret walking in on the two of them with Hook having her pinned to the tree like that... the thought bought a smirk to her lips. She'd seen what her formerly mild mannered primary school teacher of a mother could do now and she didn't fancy Hook's chances.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Mary Margaret's fist hit Hook soundly across his jaw and he stumbled back a pace, holding his cheek and spitting out the blood from the split lip she'd managed. He looked faintly impressed Emma noted.

"Enough Hook. Or I swear I will feed you piece by piece to an ogre." Mary Margaret all but snarled at him, her blade at his chin. He eyed it warily, they all knew what she could do with it after the last set of zombie-like creatures Cora had sent after them, unsuccessfully.

"Come now Your Majesty. I meant no offense, is it so wrong for a humble pirate like myself to so admire the young Princess Swan?" His grin split his face as he winked quite deliberately at Emma.

"Admire her from afar. Pirate!" Mary Margaret snarled, the blade flashed and a gash sliced open across his cheek, she moved as if to strike him again, her breathing heavy with rage, Emma had to act or she really was going to cut him to pieces.

"Mary Margaret. Please..." Emma grasped her hand, trying to lower the blade, but Emma could see from the set of her jaw she wasn't going to win this argument, Hook had been needling them both with his barely contained lechery directed entirely her way for days now. Emma felt her tense as if to strike. "Mother." She tried quietly, her softly spoken admission of their connection finally reached her and she lowered the blade, but she didn't take her eyes off Hook.

"Stay away from my daughter Hook. She might have made you a promise, but I don't trust you. If you lay even a single finger on her, I will remove the other hand." With that Mary Margaret threw him a scornful look before she spun away, returning to quietly mutter with Mulan. Two women warriors, armed, Hook looked suitably nervous as his fingers pressed against his cheek to stem the bleeding of the gash she'd opened up.

Emma actually found herself feeling mildly sorry for him, hands on hips she narrowed her eyes, aggravated at her continued confused emotions where he was concerned, he was just so damn enticing and absolutely unbearable, all at the same time. "You were asking for it." She muttered, crossing to him and removing his hand to get a better look at the damage, clearly that last comment he'd made about where she could put her perfectly formed derriere had been the straw that broke her mother's back. Oddly enough it hadn't even made her blush, she'd had far worse insinuated in her life. "It's deep, with your luck it'll probably scar." Emma commented, sighing wearily as his fingers lingered on hers just that little too long again, seemingly unwilling to simply release them without at least a token effort to get under her skin from him.

"Afraid I won't be so pretty?" Hook smirked at her, that twinkle in his eye stirring the feelings he'd been steadily cultivating. Men like Hook she could usually ignore, unfortunately most men like Hook didn't _look_ like Hook. When a man that attractive decided to make you his undivided mission, it would take a nun to not be flattered by it. No one had ever mistaken her for a nun last time she checked.

"Give me the rum." Emma held her hand out to him, he looked about to take it in his own, before she noticed his gaze shift behind her, no doubt to where Mary Margaret was making a veiled threat. He sighed.

"Women, it's always about the rum." He handed his hip flask over with a flourish. "Although I have to say, having your overprotective mother breathing down my neck is oddly exciting. I fear she may be having the opposite effect Love."

Emma suppressed the eye roll and grasped his chin, turning his head to the side before splashing the rum down the gash. He didn't hiss. She expected him to, but he just stared straight back at her, in moments when he was quiet like this she genuinely wondered what he was thinking, because she was more than certain that his offensive comments were all a smoke screen. Not that she doubted for a second however that he was capable and more than willing to follow up on them.

"Are you to nurse me back to health now Love... kiss it better?" Emma ignored him, tearing off a piece of her shirt and dousing it in more rum to clear the blood away. She should have left him to deal with this himself, that would have been the smart thing to do, but shying from conflict had never been her style and for some reason, Mary Margaret's insistence she stay away from him was having a curiously irritating effect on her, she was a grown woman, one who'd managed just fine for 28 years alone. Perhaps it was just repressed teenage rebellion against an absent parental figure, but she felt the maddening urge to push at Mary Margaret now.

Hook smirked at her, like he knew exactly why she was here. "Shut up." She muttered, pushing the rag into the cut with more pressure, "I'm just returning the gentlemanly favour." She didn't need to remind him of his attempt at gallantry at the top of the beanstalk with her injured hand. Emma pulled away satisfied the bleeding had slowed, and the wound was relatively clean, his hand caught stopping her retreat whilst his fingers traced over hers, daring her to pull away first. She did, giving him a grimace that she hoped conveyed only irritation and no trace of the thrill his touch occasionally seemed to cause.

"You'll live. She muttered, turning away to sit beside the fire on her own. She didn't want to talk to the others, they still blamed her for bringing Hook back into the fold, for promising things they didn't want to live up to. But whatever they thought, she had made a promise this time. And he had helped. He'd saved her life when Cora had sent an entire village full of zombies their way, decapitating the three that had managed to drag her to the ground, almost taking a bite himself for the trouble; granted no one else had seen it and she hadn't felt the need to tell them. But it was enough that he knew he'd saved her, she saw it in every wicked wink he sent her way, every suggestive comment he rasped just loud enough for Mary Margaret stomping along in front of them to hear and turn to glare disapprovingly at him for. Now she _owed_ him. And she'd thought owing Gold was bad enough.

That night it was her turn to sit on watch, Aurora was still not sleeping well, which meant that when she did finally get to sleep, they left her to it. Wrapping a blanket around her arms to keep out the chill she sat staring at the flickering fire, pretending to ignore the approaching form of Hook as he slid down beside her, relaxing back against the wooden log, his legs stretched out casually towards the fire.

"Good Evening my Lovely." He didn't take his eyes off the fire, but then he didn't need to, he'd spent so much time examining her these last few days that she imagined there was an imprint of her behind his eyes. At least he hadn't had the opportunity to pin her to any more trees and press his wicked lips to hers since that night he'd given her the slowly healing mark on her neck that her mother was still raging over.

"If Mary Margaret catches you here, she'll castrate you." Emma didn't even bother to sugar coat it; the docile sweet little cardiganed teacher had clearly left the building... the Queen was in.

Hook's head lolled casually in her direction as he examined her in profile. His hand flicked out and he caught a strand of her long golden hair, twisting it around his finger with a look more curious than mischievous for once, "I'll take the chance." Emma turned to give him a glare and was disarmed by the blistering vulnerability written all over his face.

"Oh god don't give me that look." Emma groaned, pulling her knees up to her chest and dropping her head into them, half to avoid the smouldering gaze searing her from only inches away.

"Am I giving you a look Love?" His voice had dropped to a seductive growl that was doing decidedly effective things to her insides. She bet he said that to all the tavern wenches.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Emma ran her hands through her hair wearily, she would have given anything for shampoo... this back to nature crap was getting old.

Hook was direct, she'd give him that, he moved swiftly, until he was knelt next to her, his hand angling her face so that his lips could claim hers uncontested. Emma protested, half heartedly as his tongue duelled with hers, preventing whatever pointless words she'd been planning on. It was wrong, she'd fought this attraction since his first flirting comments the day they'd met; but as his hands slid into her hair, she couldn't deny that the man could kiss. Or that she'd wanted to let him do just this,since the moment he'd wrapped his damn scarf around her bleeding rum soaked hand.

The moan he drew from her as his mouth left hers to travel down her neck was stifled by his hand, as he attempted to prevent her waking the others. His hooked arm wrapped around her waist as he pulled her onto his lap, letting her feel just how much of a tease she'd apparently been. Panic flooded her, this was 'Captain Hook', what the hell was she thinking? Clearly he felt her resistance flare because he captured her mouth again, crushing her chest against his in a devious attempt to refocus her mind on his touch. It worked, the curved blade at her back melted away into a concern for a later more sane moment, as she rocked against him, drawing a surprised groan from him as he held the back of her head in place, effectively trapping her; which right now, she had to admit wasn't such a bad thing.

"Emma." He breathed, pulling back long enough to sear her with another one of those looks that made her insides somersault. Ever the manipulator, she had no idea what he was really thinking in that moment, and whilst it terrified her, it also thrilled her in that dark little part of her that was still a teenage tearaway.

"Shut up." Emma snarled, crushing her lips against his again, she didn't want to hear his voice, it only reminded her exactly what she was doing and with who. He grinned past the kiss and flipped them until she was pressed into the ground beneath him.

"I can do other things with my mouth, besides talk Love." That wicked grin was enough to make her doubt this again, but God did she want to let him try. But she knew how this story ended...

"Off." She bit out, pushing at his arms as he attempted to kiss her again. "Off, get off!" she snarled using her knees to manoeuvre him up and away, he stilled above her, sighing wearily and burying his head against her chest in resignation. But at least he'd stopped she noticed, trying to calm her breathing and keep him held away.

"Love, didn't your mother teach you never to tease a Pirate." But he sounded weary now, weary and unmoving.

"Hook." She warned and he rolled off her to lie flat on his back beside her, staring up into the night sky.

"A blade would be a kinder way to torture a man Princess." He turned his head, fixing her with a look that she was certain saw straight through her, as he reverted to his pet names.

Lay flat on her back beside him, ashamed and aroused Emma knew she was in trouble as she glared up at the sky like it was the cause of all her problems. "I don't mean to torture you... or me." Emma admitted, pressing the palms of her hands against her eyes, trying to shut out the world, but mostly him.

"You could have fooled me Love." She heard him, turn, out of the corner of her eyes she watched him prop himself up on his elbow, his fingers tracing the ground inches from her hair. "Tell, me is it really just the pirate thing, have I not proven myself to you?" he sounded almost plaintive and she turned slowly to meet his look head on. "What did he do to you, your lost love?" And there it was the question she knew he wanted the answer to most and the one thing she didn't want to talk about. She didn't need to give him more insight into the way she worked, especially not now after he'd told her his story about Mila, about their love amongst the sea's, how she'd left a coward of a husband and a family for him, for a life of adventure, or how she'd wormed her way into his heart with her sheer passion for life... for love. And how that same coward of a husband had returned as the monster to rip her heart from her chest and leave him a handless, loveless, pirate forever. Perhaps he'd done it in the hopes that she'd open up in kind, a shared tale of woe to twist his way into a portion of her heart.

"Leave it alone Hook." Emma turned away from him, pushing herself up onto her elbows as she looked over at the camp to make sure no one else was awake.

"A lady not wanting to talk about her feelings incessantly, how refreshing, and in this case frustrating. Would it kill you to open up Emma?" he gave her a warm smile that she was certain had won him more than a few hearts as it twisted something inside her gut in a not unpleasant way.

The biting retort was almost instinctive now. "You're Captain Hook... so it might."

"I'm not _him_ you know Love." He pointed out, sitting up and propping himself back up against the log, casual as you like, any evidence of their 'almost' tryst carefully concealed. Except for the odd restless gestures with his hand that he was trying to disguise by picking at the leather of his shirt.

"You're exactly him." Emma muttered, not quietly enough as he gave her a dark look.

"Oh no Love. Trust me, you've never met anyone quite like me." When he put it like that, his hook glinting in the firelight, she considered that he might just be right.

Emma smirked. "That's probably a good thing."

Hook clasped his heart in a mock gesture that kept the smile in place. "Go to bed, we need you rested for tomorrow." Emma reminded him needlessly, after all he was the lynch pin of their entire plan to get the wardrobe ashes back from Cora, they needed him alert.

Hook sighed, seemingly unable to help himself from making one last comment. "I'd sleep better with you beside me."

Emma rolled her eyes arching a mocking eyebrow back at him, "Somehow I doubt that."

Hook got to his feet, giving her one last lingering look that she felt right to her toes. "One day Emma, you'll see what a pair we could make."

"Keep dreaming Hook." Emma retorted, not entirely certain she was right, but determined to at least attempt to resist her hormones. He shook his head, wearing his stupid little winsome smile as he retreated to one of the empty tents, leaving her alone to wish a cold shower was on the cards.

A few minutes passed in blessed silence. "He won't give up." Mary Margaret's voice startled her and she tried not to look guilty as she turned to face the smaller formidable woman, who'd clearly been lurking, which was disturbing on all kinds of levels now.

"I can take care of Hook." Emma informed her quietly, so as not to disturb the man in question.

"Yes, I saw." Mary Margaret sat down on the log beside her, giving her a dark knowing look. "Men like that..."

"Are exactly the type I've attracted my entire life." Emma rubbed her forehead wearily, this was so not a conversation she wanted with her mother. "Trust me, I saw him coming a mile off. Like I said, I'm handling it."

Mary Margaret looked pained, she could practically see the conflict radiating off the woman, the utter desire for her to be a mother, warring with the desire to be her friend again, all twinged with the ever present guilt that Emma had only turned out 'this' way because of her. Most of the time she felt that her mother was somewhat proud of who she'd become, but she got the feeling that it was proud in spite of it.

"I know you're worried. But please, just trust me to deal with..._this._" She indicated the tent with Hook inside. "I mean I've handled everything else pretty well. This whole fairytale thing. I can deal with one guy."

"He's a murderer." Mary Margaret pointed out sharply which forced her to purse her lips in distaste. Right, that... Killian Jones, Captain Hook, dastardly Pirate and scourge of the seas.

"Have you ever seen him kill anyone, at least anyone that wasn't trying to kill us?" Emma pointed out just as sharply. "All we have are stories, written by Pinocchio of all people. I mean there are so many versions of Peter Pan and Hook, which one's real?" Even to her it felt like a weak argument, she'd seen him fight, seen him disembowel a zombie and take its head, seen the look on his face as he'd done it... he'd enjoyed it, he lived for the thrill of excitement like that. The part of her that knew all about men like him had sounded a warning that she was trying desperately to heed. He was all sorts of wrong and he was most definitely the killer from the stories, he just hid it well.

Apparently his act wasn't fooling her mother either. "Emma, he is always the bad guy in all of those stories, that doesn't change." Mary Margaret sighed, sounding more like the 40 or so years she should be.

"Fair enough." Emma reached out and squeezed her hand supportively. "But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be given the chance to do the right thing here and now." Particularly not if that _right_ thing was getting them back home, but she didn't need to say that, they both knew it was the reason Mary Margaret's threats to run him through remained just that... threats.

"Emma." Mary Margaret gave her a withering look that had she have grown up with, she might have had the sense to acknowledge. "Hook doesn't want to do the _right_ thing with you; he very much wants to do the _bad_ thing."

Emma almost blushed, keeping her eyes deliberately averted from the mortifying situation. "Mary Margaret." Emma started, seeing her bristle at her refusal to call her mother in this instance. "I really don't think that my love life, or lack of it, is any of your business."

Mary Margaret opened her mouth as if to argue and closed it again abruptly, looking thoroughly hurt, which only increased her sense of guilt and confusion about the woman. "Right, of course." Mary Margaret managed, the waiver in her voice making Emma wonder if that had been a jab too far, the last thing she wanted was to make this situation harder for any of them. And just like that she was Mary Margaret again, and not Queen Snow, vulnerable and just a little bit desperate for love. The wall seemed to rise between them again and Emma regretted her efforts to say the right thing or be the daughter they both needed her to be. But at least it had stopped the awkward conversation in its tracks. Mary Margaret excused herself and went back to her tent to sleep, leaving her to stew alone at her inability to connect with the woman she so desperately wanted to. It had the desired effect though she realised, her misery about her family and the reminder of the family... of Henry left behind, had been as affective as a cold shower in getting Hook out of her head.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE  
**

They had failed.

The compass lay smashed in ruins. No use to any of them now. Hook had tried, Emma knew that, they all had, but Cora was as vindictive as her daughter. If she couldn't have it, apparently no one could as the curse she'd hurled had ripped the golden object straight out of Emma's hands literally tearing it apart with the force of her rage. They'd retreated, fleeing from the mad witch and her magic, the useless wardrobe dust gripped in Hook's hand as he led the way through the forest, his side apparently truly chosen.

They didn't have time to mourn the loss of their lives in Storybrooke, Aurora had woken burnt and screaming the name of a boy she'd met in her dreams. Henry. It was a lifeline through the dark, or a light in a dream. A way home. Regina, Gold, Henry and Charming, reaching out through a netherworld of nightmares beckoning them in. The wardrobe dust they'd retrieved from Cora had magic enough they believed, to pull them all in as they slept, to take them through one world, into another.

But as Emma watched Snow and Aurora fall into a sleep that failed to pull her, Mulan and Hook with them she knew the plan hadn't worked the way everyone had hoped. Emma had known it was a desperate hope, but she'd been willing to go along with it if it meant even a hope in hell of getting back to Henry. They'd banked on her affinity for the other world, on her pull back there and Snow's desire to take her with them. But as she watched feeling tears sting her eyes, the portals enveloped the sleeping forms of the two women Snow's hand that still gripped hers tightly simply vanished, leaving her alone in an enchanted forest with only Hook & Mulan for company. Emma knew then what she had suspected her entire life, hoping and wishing never got her anywhere.

Mulan's hand fell onto her shoulder and Emma dropped her head, burying the deep desire to scream obscenities at the universe for its unfairness. They didn't have time to dwell on it, on the fact that for whatever reason, this portal in their dreams only worked on those who'd been afflicted by a sleeping curse just like they'd feared... never had she wished more that she'd been the victim of Regina's devilish pastry. The sound of an approaching army of ogres was all she could hear as Mulan drew her sword.

"Emma." Hook grasped her by the arms, turning her to face them. "We need to move. There will be other portals Love. But you only have these limbs, you want to keep them, we need to stay ahead of the ogres." He pulled her away, dragging her dazed form out of Cora's path, reminding her, that he'd lost his chance at Storybrooke too, lost the chance for his revenge as his grip tightened painfully refusing to let her fall behind.

Mulan had always been incredibly brave, but without Aurora, whatever glue had held them together seemed to have faded. She had been here to keep a promise to a man she loved, that promise was over. When they separated to outrun the ogres, Mulan never caught up with them again. Hook had found tracks that suggested she was alive and well, but headed back towards her old life, wherever that had been, but at least out of Cora's path. Emma couldn't blame her, this fight against Cora wasn't hers to bare and with Snow gone, Mulan's equally fragile hope for rebuilding the Kingdom seemed to have gone with her.

Unfortunately that left her with Hook. Emma blinked away tears trying to distract herself with anything other than the thought of Henry, of never seeing him again. She'd lost him again... she'd only just gotten him back.

"I have a plan." Hook approached her quietly as she sat at the waters edge, refilling her flask and trying not to think of Henry, and how at least he'd have his grandparents to keep Regina from him now. They'd have the family they so wanted to be again... just without her in it. Maybe it was for the best, she only seemed to trail trouble behind her.

Hook crouched down beside her, his hand hovering over her back, but not touching, which was showing restraint for him. "You want to hear it?" he pressed and Emma bowed her head.

"What's the point." Emma sighed, "I'm done. The wardrobe dust is gone, we used it on getting Mary Margaret and Aurora into that dream realm portal. My mother's home, she's with her Prince Charming, they'll take care of Henry, he'll be safe from Cora, they all will, because we definitely know she's fresh out of portal magic now."

Hook's hand pressed against the centre of her back tenderly, sliding down the to settle above her waist; she closed her eyes, allowing herself a brief moment of comfort from it, she'd deny she leant into it, no matter what she was certain he'd insist later. "I might not be able to get you back to Storybrooke, but I can get you away from that witch." He sounded so sincere that Emma turned to stare at him, searching his face for a trace of a lie, there wasn't even a flicker of his usual charming deceit.

"Why would you do that? We had a deal, if Storybrooke's off the cards, so is your revenge."

Hook smiled, "I told you Love. I wasn't giving up on us. I can't very well woo you when we're on the run from a mad woman can I?"

"You can't woo me anyway." Emma smirked back at him, realising he hadn't taken his hand from her back. "But seriously. Where can we go? Clearly the apple didn't fall far from the tree with Regina and Cora, because that woman doesn't know when to quit, and vengeance is about all that drives them."

"Neverland." Hook's answer was as deadpan as it was ridiculous. Emma opened her mouth to tell him that; then shut it abruptly. This _was_ Captain Hook, where the hell else would he suggest?CaptCa

"It's a real place?" Emma asked tentatively, "How will we get there without a portal?" she gave him her full attention now as they stood, staring nose to nose.

Hook his hand reaching out to remove the strand of curled blonde hair that had fell across her face, his apparent need to touch her at every opportunity clearly hadn't abated. "Pixie dust." Hook informed her, his hand falling away from her face and going in his pocket to pull out a pouch. "There's a Pixie in Neverland..."

"Tinkerbell?" Emma quirked an eyebrow, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it all still. "Oh for heavens sake." She turned away from him, shaking her head and wishing like hell she'd been able to wake up from this nightmare when Mary Margaret had. "If you had Fairy dust all this time, then why didn't you offer to use it before now to help us get home?" she glared at him pointedly, hoping like hell he had an explanation, because if he didn't, they were really done.

"You know a lot... and not much at all." Hook snapped, sounding irritated as he grasped her by her bicep with his hook and spun her to face him, waving the pouch in her face, his irritation seeming to give way to anger for just a flash, that she didn't miss. "And it's _pixie_ dust, Lovely, not fairy dust."

"What's the difference?" If she ever got back she swore she'd head to the library and google the hell out of fairytales and magic.

Hook gave her a dark look. "Vicious little creatures, Pixies are the black sheep of the Fairy world, trust a Pixie and it might just be the last thing you do."

"Noted. They're the Hooks of the fairy world." Emma smiled sweetly, not quite joking with him, "And this Pixie dust is going to get us out of here?"

Hook gaze narrowed, he'd been more intense since the others had left she noted, "It can get us to Neverland, because that is where that snot nosed little minx of a pixie is. Think of it as my escape hatch in case I ever needed to get back, after all I had no idea what I might find left here."

"Must have been a shock to see the devastation the Curse brought?" Emma tried to imagine it.

Hook gave her a hooded look through his eyelashes which she chose not to try and interpret as he held out his hand to her. "What do you have to lose? Seems to me you've lost everything that matters. Guess that makes me your only option."

"Don't sugar-coat it or anything for me." Emma muttered, watching his hand as he fingered the pouch. "What will it do... open a portal or?"

"No. We'll need to fly there." His grin said well enough that he was enjoying toying with her.

"Fly; like Peter Pan?" she was officially down the rabbit hole she mused, cursing internally.

"Who's Peter Pan?" Hook gave her a confused look that made her pause from her own mental flagellation.

"You're Captain Hook, how the hell can you ask that?" Emma was bewildered, the story _was_ Peter Pan... if he wasn't in it then what else about the story had lost something in translation?

"Look Love. We don't exactly have forever to debate this. Cora will be sending those Ogres this way soon enough, they'll have fixed onto our scent by now. Either you trust me and we do this, or you don't and you stay here and take your chances." Hook, blunt as ever.

What choice did she have? Neverland right now had to be better than here. But _trust_ Hook? He held his hand out to her expectantly, and reluctantly she placed hers in his, disappointed but not exactly surprised when he pulled her into his arms with it. His hook slid around her waist, forcing her to remember what he could do with it. "Trust me." He pressed a hard kiss to her lips and upended the dust over them before she had the chance to smack him for the presumption.

"Do I need to think happy thoughts or something?" Emma asked as the dust settled all over them.

Hook smirked and pulled her in closer to him. "Don't worry Love, I've got that covered." His grin was all leer and she would have complained, but their feet chose that moment to leave the ground.

Emma let out a startled yelp and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "Tell me you've done this before?" she all but pleaded, seeing the ground begin to fall away far too quickly.

"Shall I lie to you?" Hook smirked, taking the chance to hold her tighter as he directed them ever upwards.

"Second star to the right and straight on until morning...?" Emma quipped, trying not to let on just how freaked out she was. Hook gave her one of those thousand yard stares he was so fond of when she said something that made utterly no sense to him.

"How about I lead." He responded, staring up as they rose skyward. "Hold tight Love, the dust goes up well, but not down, if you fall, I can't come after you." The moment they hit the clouds, things began to change, the clouds were beginning to spin around them. Turns out flying to Neverland was a way of reaching some sort of portal in the clouds, which she was relieved about, she wasn't sure science in this world was as far along as in hers, she wasn't keen on the idea of floating into the frozen stratosphere and into the vacuum of space.

"I'd take a deep breath." Hook advised having to shout over the increasing roar of what seemed to be a tornado in the clouds. "Helped with the whirlpool last time anyway." He added quietly enough that she almost missed it, but his barely repressed excitement was infectious and she grinned despite herself, watching as the clouds whirled them to dizzy inducing speeds. She was going to Neverland... Henry would have been beside himself so she owed it to him to enjoy the ride at the very least as the clouds enveloped them in cold, wet madness. Hook held her tightly in his arms, their eyes locked as madness swirled stealing her logic and replacing it with giddy adrenalin; she kissed him hard trying not to think on what it meant as he kissed her back just as furiously. She closed her eyes from the nausea inducing spin they had entered, focusing on him entirely, on his still form amongst the squalling tempest all around them clinging to him like the lifeline he was, floating high up in the sky.

A crack of lightening that struck, electrifying every cell in her body and they dropped like stones, plummeting through the air to be deposited into a crystal blue lake, the force of the impact ripping them apart. Emma rose spluttering to the surface, mildly concerned until Hook surfaced spitting water and looking as elated as she felt that they were still alive.

"We're alive!" Emma grinned stupidly at him as she spun, trying to take in the surroundings from the trees and hint of a mountain top she could just make out directly ahead.

"I know. I'm as surprised as you." he swam towards her, looking far too pleased with himself.

"I thought you said you'd travelled like that before?" Emma splashed water in his face angrily, causing him to splutter and try a new tact as he dived low and wrapped his arms around her, surfacing too close for her to attempt to drown him without going under herself.

"I've travelled to Neverland... but the whole flying thing was new. Tink gave me the gist of it when she handed over the dust at hook point, but given as it was under duress, I wasn't holding out much hope that the instructions would hold up."

Emma glared at him. "Great."

"We're alive. We're in Neverland Love, the land where no one ages... no one dies, and everyone forgets their life before. My dear, trust me, this is the perfect place for you and I to start fresh."

Emma attempted to detach herself from him. "There is no you and I. And I have no intention of forgetting anything." Hypercritical she realised, given the lip lock they'd just shared at a flat out spin in the clouds, but she could call that a moment of weakness that she didn't want to repeat.

"Give it time Love. You have forever now, I'm sure I'll grow on you." His confidence was starting to get under her skin she noted in irritation as he headed for dry land, a new swagger to his stride she noticed, apparently being in Neverland suited him.

They hiked through woods for an hour or so before they came across the coast line, Hook was oddly quiet, his eyes scanning the horizon as he gazed out over the ocean.

"Are you expecting something?" Emma came to stand beside him, squinting out against the sun, amazed at the crystal clear waters, she could almost imagine this place was a paradise... if it wasn't for all the pirates.

"Expecting... and not disappointed. Take a look Emma," he wrapped his arm around her waist tugging her into his side and pointing his hook out directing her eye line to the horizon. Our chariot awaits." Emma stared, watching the unmistakeable shape of a boat, complete with elaborate sails coming over the horizon.

"Please tell me that's not the Jolly Roger." Emma sighed, certain from the pleased grin she felt curling his lips as he kissed her temple that it was exactly what it was, his hand slid more firmly around her as she sought to detach them, side stepping out of his grasp. "Hands Hook." She warned.

"Hand actually my Lovely." He chuckled, not releasing his grasp on her with said hand. "And in this world, it is most definitely _Captain_ Hook. Wouldn't want the boys to think I'd gone soft."

"More pirates?" Emma couldn't bring herself to sound enthusiastic about that, as the notion of just where and with who she was trapped with began to sink in like lead.

"Oh come now Love, I'll protect your honour." His leer made her more nervous than usual.

"What with your nonexistent honour?" Emma snapped back, feeling nervous as the ship grew closer and larger, it's black sail unmistakable. _Pirate._

"I promised you Emma, we are on the same side. Have I lied?" he caught her arm, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"Not so far. I'll admit, you helped with Cora, Snow's back home; I'm in Nerverland safe and sound... so you say. But don't think we're friends _Captain_. You're still a pirate and your still out to get in my pants. So forgive me for not exactly trusting your 'honourable' intentions." Emma ripped her hand out of his.

Hook looked genuinely affronted, with his hand on his heart. "You wound me Emma."

"Touch me again, and it won't just be with words." Her promise only seemed to stir a new challenge in him if his wry smile meant anything. She had noticed the signs of his confidence growing with every step in this land that was clearly his, it was more important than ever that she stopped him in his tracks, whilst she still could with regards to their 'friendship' such as it was.

"Fair enough." He nodded, placing his hand behind his back and turning his attention to the steadily encroaching pirate ship. Emma came to stand beside him, keeping an arm's length away and not buying his acceptance act one bit, he'd sworn to her that he wasn't going to give up on the idea of her; he had never struck her as a man to walk away from a challenge. Now he had her entirely at his mercy, reliant on him for safety and shelter... she in no way imagined he thought he didn't have an advantage to press.

"How do they know your back in Nerverland, because I take it it's been a while?" she asked quietly, not entirely certain she wanted the answer.

Hook kept his eyes on the approaching vessel. "Pirate thing." He replied, not giving an inch.

"Bull! More likely it's some weird Neverland magic thing." Emma rolled her eyes, she was done with magic too, how on earth did people get by when strange unexplainable, uncontrollable things happened all around them, all the damn time. It was a control freaks hell.

Hook gave her a faintly impressed look. "Like I said, Pirate thing."

"Great." Emma muttered, clearly after her little reminder that she wasn't going to play along with his happy little wench fantasies, he'd decided to become uncommunicative.

"Emma. You seem to think you know much of what it is to be a pirate." He gave her a sideways look that made her stomach knot unpleasantly; he nodded, seeing her swallow with dawning comprehension. "I may be charming Love, but my men are not. Follow my lead, don't question my authority... and don't trust a word they say." His lips were pressed together in a grim line as he watched a rowboat begin to creep steadily towards them. "Mila thank the gods, never got the chance to experience what Neverland does to men like this... to men like me." He eyed her darkly. "Lucky you."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Warning: mild non-con & graphic violence (it _is_ a Pirate ship) – Reminder Story is rated (M)**

**8888888**

The row boat reached the shore and three men dragged it up the beach before proceeding to slap Hook and each other on the backs enthusiastically. Emma couldn't say they looked like any Pirates she'd ever read about; apart from Hook, they all had their limbs, there wasn't a hat, a parrot, a peg leg or an eye patch in sight, although one seemed to be covered in tattoos. They did have swords though, and not the cutlass variety, these were long, sharp and expertly wielded as their attention shifted to her.

"She's with me." Hook informed them in a voice that brooked no argument. There were a couple of whispered suggestions as to what that meant, from the slightly stupid sounding one. Hook responded with swift brutality, his Hook flashed and the offending sailor clutched at his face as blood spurted from the new ugly looking gash across his eye.

Emma felt the instinct to raise her hand to her mouth in shock, but at the last minute resisted the urge, managing to look on with only mild disgust rather than the sudden flash of fear she felt. He'd warned her, in his own way that his _charming_ mask might slip; he hadn't told her he'd throw it off entirely. The newly formed 'Sheriff Swan' part of her mentality demanded she do something, intervene, slap handcuffs on someone... only it was utterly the wrong instinct here and it left her feeling completely useless and more than a little out of her depth.

Hook grasped the front of the agonised man's shirt who was too busy clapping his hand over his eye to stem the sudden gush of blood whilst making an odd keening noise. "I said, she's with me." Hook snarled ignoring the snivelling sailor. "Apparently there have been some changes since my short absence if I'm suddenly having to repeat myself."

"No changes Captain." The heavily tattooed pirate spoke up. "Misunderstanding with Noodler here was all, you know he ain't all right in the head the lass just took him by surprise was all." Hook shoved the bleeding man away from him, wiping his hook on the shirt of the pirate who'd spoken, leaving a dark bloody stain behind. The pirate didn't even flinch, just stared resolutely ahead.

"You find what you needed Captain?" The third pirate who'd remained apparently wisely silent asked, he was older than the others, his white beard ragged, his skin like leather and his hands so weathered Emma didn't need to imagine he'd spent his entire long life at sea.

"Yes. Of a fashion." Hook smiled thinly, unamused, "It would seem the Dark Curse destroyed the Enchanted Forest." He gave the man a sharp look. "There is no going back. Neverland is our home permanently now."

"And your guest... a survivor?" The old pirate gave her a canny look, which seemed to take in her rather 'unenchanted' outfit.

Hook placed a warning hand on his shoulder. "Of a sort. A fellow portal jumper, handy lass in a fight, easy on the eyes, we could do worse." Hook winked at him, apparently whoever this man was, he was entitled to an opinion.

"Emma." She introduced herself, trying to mask her nervous energy with irritation as she held her hand out expectantly to the old pirate, because clearly Hook wasn't going to introduce her.

The old grizzled pirate gripped her hand firmly, it felt as rough as it looked she noted. "Gentleman Starkey, First Mate." He gave her a gap filled smile and indicated the resolute tattooed pirate with a glance. "That there's Bill Jukes and the mouth piece going to lose that eye is Noodler."

"Charmed." Emma smiled thinly back at him, trying to put enough bite into the expression to make him think twice about her being some sort of easy target, because no matter what Hook said, she wasn't entirely sure he was going to be able to keep her safe on a pirate ship... or if he would even try. Particularly if he had to half blind a man just for making the type of comment he'd been throwing her way since they'd first met. Suddenly she was starting to think she should have taken her chances back in the Enchanted Forest with Cora and her ogres.

8888888

Hook stepped on board his ship and for the first time in months, he felt like he was home. His crew, those of it that hadn't been ripped away when the curse hit, welcomed him back. But it was a double edged sword, if he was back, then he hadn't succeeded, which meant they were trapped in Neverland forever... not that his promise to find a portal to another world had ever been going to benefit them, but he'd left that part out of his plan.

For some, he knew that the idea of Neverland forever would be no hardship, a world in which you can never age, where adventure is in every port and excitement in every wave... paradise. Others, the brighter minds amongst his crew, would need time.

He held his arms out wide, turning to take them all in. "Men your Captain is back, and in honour of this momentous occasion," he grinned with laughter in his voice, "I propose we go do what we do best... find trouble!" The cheer that greeted his statement was resounding as one by one his men turned to their duties, accepting their lot, so long as they were alive, at sea and bound for adventure and rum. For now.

He felt Emma step on board the ship, saw the appreciative looks in the lingering gazes that immediately lowered as she came to stand beside him. His crew had been with him long enough to know that he wouldn't allow another woman on board lightly, particularly not one who clearly wasn't here for entertainment purposes. For the slower amongst his crew, he slid an arm around her waist, curling the hook around the delicate flesh to pull her possessively against his side, her golden tresses moving like water with her so that every eye followed her. He caught the sideways look she gave him, but she didn't protest, which he filed away for later, clearly she'd been surrounded by dangerous men before and understood the delicate power game he was playing.

"Emma love." He called out loud enough to reach every ear, "Welcome on board the Jolly Roger." He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the knuckles lingering in surprise at the softness to them, "A vessel fit for a Princess is it not?" his lips curved at her, but he flashed the warning in his eyes, which again he knew she registered, because she gave him a half bow, her lips curling into a smile which masked her emotions, but gave her already beautiful face a breathtaking quality.

"Thank you, Captain." Her voice was softer than he remembered; the ever present bite missing and he instinctively tightened his grip around her hand, her sudden softness tightening his gut as her contradiction threw him. The enchantment of this place clearly already working its magic.

"Princess?" Gentleman Starkey appeared at Hook's side, his grizzled appearance making perfect sense surrounded by the rigging and smell of the sea, but Hook appreciated his voicing the point he'd wanted to make. He had missed the canny old pirate.

"Oh yes boys. We are truly moving up in the world, Princess Swan here, is the one and only daughter of our eminent, if absent Queen Snow." Hook didn't release her hand, keeping the firm grip, and trusting her to follow his lead, it was refreshing to not have to second guess someone all the time.

"She for ransom?" Starkey grumbled, giving him a shrewd look, voicing perfectly the questions Hook needed him to. He'd want his portion of rum increasing for this.

Hook gave him a dark look, taking in the eager looks of the others around him, the prospect of a princess and treasure lighting their dark little hearts.

"No one left to ransom too, not since the curse ripped them all away. No," he smiled thinly, getting a thrill out of the idea of cementing the words, "Princess Sawn here is my personal guest on board this ship... indefinitely." He pointed his hooked appendage under Starkey's chin, "Do I need to demonstrate again, what it means to touch my things?" he turned his head so they could follow it to take in Noodlers ruined face as he stumbled on board, supported by Jukes.

"Not at all Captain." Starkey grinned his toothless smile back at him. "Shall I escort the lovely lady to your quarters?"

"I think I remember where it is. Besides." He tugged her back into close proximity, letting his hand slide suggestively down her side, "the Princess and I have had a long day outrunning ogres and outwitting witches, I think it would be best if we got our rest." He gave Starkey an expression that was as packed with innuendo as he could manage, letting his hand curl instinctively around Emma in ever more possessive gestures. Crass laughter followed him as he led her away, whistles sounding out until he led her below to the quarter deck, to the stern of the ship which housed the Captain's quarters. The moment they were out of eyeshot she ripped her hand from his and pulled out of his grasp, dropping back and letting him lead the way. He sighed, pushing open his cabin door and waving her inside with a smirk as she passed him closely, having no choice but to touch his chest in such confined quarters.

He felt the tension radiating from her as she slid into his cabin, but she was clearly composing herself as he watched her clock all the corners... and to his surprise anything she could use as a weapon.

Hook kept his amusement to himself as he turned, bolting the door behind him, watching her out of the corner of his eye as she trailed her fingers over his large Captain's table, her eyes casting over the many maps which were still out where he'd left them. Emma wasn't like the women from his world, he'd known that the moment she'd pulled a blade to his throat, calling him a liar without a trace of doubt or hesitation. The sheer confidence that radiated from the woman as she stalked away from his trussed up form, as thought she'd have happily left him to the ogres, in that moment he'd been certain that was exactly what she'd do... except that she'd fooled him, completely. Hard she might have been, but a cold blooded killer? He replayed the memory of her shock at his suggestion that she'd tied him up to make him a meal for the giant. She'd never intended to kill him, wouldn't have been able to kill Cora, even if it meant risking her own and her mother's life. But that was the contradiction in her that he found fascinating. The hard embittered exterior, masking vulnerability and a broken heart.

"So Emma, my darling. What do you think?" he turned to lean arms crossed against the door, watching her assess him and her surroundings.

"I think I should sleep with my gun under my pillow." Was her quick reply, as she pulled the compact, explosive metal weapon out of her pocket and gripped it firmly in her hand, as if to reassure herself that it was there. He gave her hand held cannon an appreciative look, he'd been itching to examine it, to perhaps duplicate the extraordinary technology when he got the chance.

"My men will not harm you." he informed her coolly, he understood her trepidation, his men had a certain reputation and she wouldn't have been the first poor lass to come aboard this ship and find herself in trouble. The idea of his men laying their hands on her made him distinctly uncomfortable, but he doubted for the reasons she'd hope, for him it was far more about the idea that he wanted her all to himself. Possession was something he did very well, he _was_ the pirate captain after all, and that was more than just a title, it was a way of life... it was who he was at his core.

Emma quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him, her lips twisting into a sneer that should have made her look less attractive, but it just made her more real to him. The lust rose easily, it was his curse, his constant, but for the first time the lust was tempered with something more powerful, something that tightened his chest and twisted his gut with the promise and threat of it. Something he hadn't felt and hadn't want to feel since Mila.

"I should thank you." Emma acknowledged. "I appreciate you bringing me here, for letting me on your ship, I know it isn't as simple having a woman here as you pretend." Hook nodded, accepting what he already knew, that she understood the delicate balance here. He pushed off the wall and approached her quietly, noticing her scan every facet of him to determine his intention, he made it clearer as he walked, letting her know exactly his intention as he reached her and she didn't retreat. His hands slid around her waist, tugging her against his hips.

"How thankful are you Princess?" he breathed, leaning in close and enjoying the feel of her breath against his lips. Her resistance waivered and he pushed his advantage, lowering his lips to her neck and tasting the soft skin there, enjoying the involuntary shudder his actions sent rippling through her.

"No." she told him firmly, stilling his mouth, but she made no attempt to pull away, which curved his lips into a satisfied smile.

"Will you wound me Emma?" he teased, mocking her previous words and her threat made not an hour ago, if he touched her again.

"You don't want me." Emma murmured forcing his head up to meet her stony gaze, the deep azure blue of her eyes always reminded him of the bluest oceans of Neverland, the sheer untameable vastness of its beauty.

"Oh Love, how wrong you are." He breathed, raising his hand to brush his thumb over her lips, revelling in the softness of them against his rough weathered skin.

"You want a warm body... a pretty face, a challenge." She snapped, not softening to his gentle administrations one bit. "It has nothing to do with _me_."

Hook felt anger flare, his rage was legendary, it was why he had to be so charming all the time, lest people see the monster that lurked beneath the surface. He felt it raise its ugly head now at her resistance, which had nothing to do with the simple frustration of lust denied and everything to do with her insistence in seeing only the worst in him. He let his hand snap out and around her neck, driving her back into the hard wooden panels of his cabin with a thud that he knew winded her.

"You underestimate me." He snarled, furious with her, and with himself. They were both so broken by lost love, that their every interaction was a fresh reminder of its agony. He wanted to know her story, wanted to know what and who had damaged her so thoroughly. He knew bits and pieces, knew her abandonment as a child had left her with an inability to trust, had hardened her walls to impenetrable barriers that shielded her from the world. But somehow, someone had gotten through, someone had shattered them, forcing her to rebuild, stronger, sharper and thicker than ever.

Before he'd been able to resist his curiosity, control his temper, but not now, not in Neverland. "Tell me what he did to you." he insisted, feeling the steady beat of her heart beneath her chest pressed against his, so calm and strong despite the fingers curled around her throat. He longed to undress her, to feel the heat of her skin, to watch it flush at his touch and know that he affected her. To hear again the hitch in her breath that the touch of his lips to the pulse point of her throat had bought him. He loosened his grip around her throat, trailing his hand slowly down her breastbone to settle over her heart. "Tell me Emma." He begged, letting her see his desperate need to understand, to know her through the pain that defined her.

"I loved him." Emma whispered, her voice broke over the words, letting him know that the admission cost her. It had been her only love then he surmised. "I trusted him, despite what I knew he was... what I was."

"What was he Love, what were you?" he pressed, needing to know it all.

Her eyes flashed and he held his breath, willing her to give him this at least. "He was a lot like you, a liar and a thief... just like I was." She smiled sadly at the memory, "I stole his stolen ca...," he sensed her change the word to something he could understand, "_ship_, I stole his stolen ship with him still in it." She admitted without a hint of shame which stirred the lust afresh in him. "We were happy." She sighed, "I thought we were happy, we were going to stop, to get a home, set roots, be a family." She closed her eyes as if banishing the memories and the feelings associated with them.

"How did he betray you." he kissed the corner of her mouth, forcing her eyes to snap open on to his, but they were unreadable and she didn't move away. Mixed messages... it seemed to be her way.

"He stole something, a lot of something, worth a lot to someone. He was a wanted man." Emma's voice had gone hard, but he heard the way it waivered, the pain was buried but not nearly as deep as she'd have liked. "So he gave them _me_ instead, left me holding the bag whilst he skipped the country." Emma swallowed. "I went to prison for him, gave birth to his child behind bars." Her eyes seared him and he leant in closer, feeling the emotion pouring out of her like a torrent. "I handed my baby over to the same damn system that broke me because I was in no position to take care of him. I gave him up to be raised by an Evil Queen, in some twisted cursed little fairytale town, because my life is just that fucked up." She snapped, tears threatening in her eyes. "But I should thank him... my bastard lover, because he made me the woman I am today, scared me straight back to my destiny. Straight back to my son. Who I've now lost forever." The tears fell slowly onto her cheeks now.

Hook was silent as she breathed heavily, struggling with the weight of her own revelation, he simply held her, digesting her words and using them to build a shattered picture of her heart. "Then he never loved you." he couldn't hold his tongue. "If he had, he wouldn't have been able to let you go." He kissed the corner of her mouth again, judging the chances of her striking him and deciding to take the risk as he pressed his mouth over hers. "I would never let you go." His hand lowered to slide over her stomach, imagining it swollen with a child that was a part of him and for the first time in his life, not repulsed by the prospect. "He was a fool." He hissed, kissing her hard and trying to insist with his touch what he was beginning to feel stirring inside of himself.

Emma placed a resisting hand against his chest, pulling back. "Won't be fooled twice." She promised. "You aren't what I need." She bit off and he smirked. "You aren't what I _want_." She added, wiping the smirk off his face. The woman could cut with words deeper than any blade, he had to admit feeling the lash of them now, as the rage bubbled inside of him again, tempered only by the knowledge that she'd trusted him with her past, and despite her insistence, he was wearing through her defences.

Hook raised his thumb to her lips one last time, imagining them parting with desire and whispering sweet nothings, promising himself that he'd have her that way, if it was the last thing he did. "Fair enough." He stepped away, forcing himself to release her exquisite form, resigned to the idea that it would take him time to discover its secrets for himself.

"I need to return to my men, they have been without a Captain too long, I need to ensure that my authority is paramount, and set a new heading." He stepped away from her, watching her visibly relax with the distance between them, which he noted with a sense of satisfaction, clearly he made her uneasy... she wasn't as unaffected by him as she liked to pretend. "These are your quarters now, there is simply nowhere else for you that would be appropriate... or safe. You will find suitable attire in the wardrobe, but I will have my men secure you something more when we next make birth." He nodded, considering his offer more than generous, she nodded and he felt another part of her slide into his heart, she was a woman not accustomed to the charity of others, not used to having much of her own at all he surmised. For a Princess, it was an alarming trait, one that only increased her allure to him. A woman used to little in the way of life's luxuries would fit easily into life on board a pirate ship. His jaw tensed at the impulse to capture her lips again, to claim her whether she wanted it or not, but he resisted the urge, redirecting it into a promise to himself, to see to it that she felt at home here, to bring some luxury to her life, what little a pirate like he could manage. After all, she was his responsibility now, which would have been laughable if it wasn't so tragic.

"And the bed?" she gave him a knowing look that was all challenge, her eyes darting once to the only bed in his rooms.

Hook kept his expression deadly serious. "I think you will find it more than large enough to accommodate us both my Lady." He gave her a mock bow and left her to silently fume as he locked the door from the outside. "Oh, and Princess," he called to her through the wood, hearing her muffled 'what?' of irritation loud and clear "I would advise running through with a blade anyone who enters this room and isn't me." Silence greeted his warning, but he imagined he saw her stunned look of dawning comprehension as she stared through the panels of wood to where he leant against the door. He sighed, turning away from the door, and returning to the main deck.

He needed to give her time to acclimatise, give his men the chance to adjust to her presence, flaunting her impossibly gold spun hair and flawless cream skin in front of them so soon was going to cause nothing but trouble. At no point did he let himself entertain the idea that he was locking her away out of some desire to keep her entirely to himself, even if it was only to watch from afar.

Hook returned to his cabin as the darkest part of the night began to pass, he moved to the door, hesitating when he found it unlocked. Drawing his sword he steeled himself for what might be beyond the door and cursed himself for not checking on her sooner. The sight that greeted him as he charged into the room, sword drawn was not what he'd expected. Two of his men were hog tied to the legs of his ornate and extremely heavy table, naked and gagged. Hook stared at them momentarily bewildered, his heart was still racing clouding his judgement as his eyes darted to the bed where Emma sat, her gun resting quietly beside her as she arched an eyebrow imperiously at him.

"Yes Hook, very safe here." she bit out and he heard the quiet fury in it as her eyes darkened to liquid midnight pools of sapphire, holding everything she wanted to say in that searing gaze.

"Well my lady, it would seem you have no need of protection from me or any other man." He smiled sharply, his words entirely for his men, and any ears listening, his relief was fleeting at finding her unharmed, the rage swept through him afresh.

Emma stood, crossing to the cringing pirates, who were muffling behind the strips of cloth she'd gagged them with. She gave them both a look that should have castrated them where they huddled and he felt them flinch at it with satisfaction.

Hook needed to act. These dogs had ignored his direct orders, had flouted his authority... they had come here to defile her, he was certain of it as he crouched low, lifting the head of the nearest and taking his measure. "Mutiny." He hissed, allowing the word to curve his lips into a smile he knew from the mirror was truly unpleasant. The men writhed, renewing their attempts to free themselves and speak through the gags. "Bad form." He added quietly.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Warning: Chapter contains graphic violence**

**Authors Note: I'm posting this ahead of Sunday's Season 2 winter finale, where I have a suspicion that this Captain Swan Ship is about to well and truly sink. Ah well, I guess they'll live on ****in our hopeful little hearts on here instead**. Thank you to those of you leaving reviews and following this story, I haven't posted a in a while and not for ouat before, so it's nice to know I haven't gotten too rusty.

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_Mutiny._ The word seethed through him.

"Starkey, Jukes." Hook roared, the sudden sound startling Emma, as she grasped onto Jack's blade, which she had obviously felt the need to draw. The two trusted men appeared at his cabin, their shrewd eyes taking in the scene without comment.

"Mutiny." Hook rasped, pouring malice and dark excitement into the word. Starkey's face split with the feral grin.

"Oh yes Captain. Mutiny most foul." He stepped into the room, a serrated blade drawn.

"What'll it be Cap'tin?" Jukes crossed his heavily tattooed arms, his eyes fixed on the offending sailors, not once had he looked Emma's way. "The plank? The blade? The Rack?"

Hook stood, feeling the rage vibrating through him until he was all but consumed with the desperate need to rend. "The Hook." He all but snarled. "Get them out of my sight. String them up. I want them to dance for me first."

"Get in here." Starkey barked to the men waiting just outside, they filtered in, Hook's feral excitement spreading to each one in turn as they grasped the condemned men apparently Emma had done more damage than he realised, because the condemned men needed to be physically hauled out of the room, followed by the sound of pained shouts and vicious laughter.

Starkey gave him a brief nod as the others filtered out. "Ten minutes Captain. We'll have them dancing from the main sail."

Hook nodded, not trusting himself to speak past the fury which curled his fist. The door closed and he bowed his head.

"Hook, you don't have to..." Emma spoke, her hand reaching out to him, he spun, not giving her the chance to finish her pointless sentence as he raised the hook to her face, the threat implied but never touching, which for him, was showing restraint.

"They betrayed me." He snarled. "I will see their insides outside for this." Emma opened her mouth, then closed it again wisely, her eyes widening in the kind of horror that should have bothered him, except that he was so used to seeing it on the faces of women that got to close. He stalked forward, grasping her arm barely registering her flinch, as he examined her from head to toe. "Did they touch you?" he saw it then, the slowly blooming bruise across her cheek, his hand froze. Some men trembled with rage, not him, Hook grew incredibly still. "Where else." He hissed the words, trying not to simply peel off her clothes and search every inch of her for the full extent of their betrayal.

Emma was perfect in that moment, so still, no sudden movements, her breathing utterly calm, her voice a low soothing sound that reached into his soul. "Nowhere." Her eyes held his and he felt her lie sear him as she stubbornly refused to justify his rage.

He didn't dare touch her, not in his fury. "DO NOT LIE TO ME!" he bellowed, seeing her rock back momentarily stunned, but not in the least bit surprised he realised. She had known this was inside of him... had seen the rotten raging core of him the moment she'd laid eyes on him, even masked as it was, safely away from Neverland. He filed that information away for a saner moment as he grasped her shoulders, the knowledge giving him some measure of calm as his fingers bit into her skin, she didn't even flinch. "They are dead men walking Love. Do not think you can protect them from my wrath. Tell me what else, or I shall imagine it for myself and seek my vengeance in a pound of flesh for each precious inch of you they defiled."

Emma was trembling, he felt it beneath his fingers as he bored his gaze into her; but he was starting to wonder if it was out of anger rather than fear as she defiantly raised her chin and lifted her simple black top, revealing the darkening bloom of skin around her ribs where an arm had clearly clung too tightly trying to restrain her in a futile effort. His eyes lowered to the torn buttoned fastening of her trousers where his incompetent men had tried and failed to comprehend the trick to gaining entrance.

"They surprised me." Emma admitted lowering the top, sounding tired as she peeled his fingers off her shoulders and neatly sidestepped him. "There were so many new noises, I couldn't distinguish the sound of them in the room from the creak of the boat in the water. They were quiet. They were on me before I even knew they were inside. They tried to hold me down, to keep me quiet, but I guess they've never tried to attack a women who knows how to fight back. I broke the one's nose, took out the knee of the other and smashed his ankles together, the other one tripped over his friend so when he went down I stomped on his manhood until he stopped trying to get up. Wasn't too hard to truss them up after that."

Hook's expression twisted, they had gotten too close. Any other woman and they'd have had their wicked way with her long before he'd have gotten back, slit her throat and left him with no way of knowing who'd betrayed him.

"Did they put their lips on you." he released her, turning his back to her to save her the look he knew he bore.

"The one with the broken nose shoved his tongue down my throat when I tried to shout for help." She admitted quietly, he could feel her resistance to tell him, her desire to spare the men who had assaulted her some of the agony she must now know awaited them. It only fuelled his anger further that she would care anything for them.

"Their hands?" Hook turned to look back at her, willing her not to lie.

Emma dropped her head, her arms coming up to wrap around herself. "Much like yours." She admitted, "They tried to get everywhere."

Hook slammed his fist into the wall, hearing the crack of the panel, and wishing it was his hand. He spun on her, her words were biting, and some attempt to shame him, but he was too beyond himself to register the deeper implications now. "I swear to you Emma. I had no idea they would attempt something so blatant, so soon. That they would forget so easily who I am." He bit out, this was his fault. "I would never have left you alone." He apologised. "The example I will make of them will hold for now and until the end of time."

"I'm starting to think I should have just shot them." Emma murmured as he turned to leave, forcing him to stop dead and stare at her evenly. "I'm thinking it would have been a better fate than what you have planned."

Hook felt his lips purse. "Better." He acknowledged. "But far less satisfying." He knew where her mind was at as the pained look crossed her features, she didn't like people to suffer, even if they were her would-be-rapists. The idea that they would suffer was clearly causing her some sense of misplaced guilt, which was endearing... if it wasn't so damn pathetic. He noted that he would need to make sure she grew a thicker skin if she was going to remain here, because this life might just break her if he didn't.

He stalked from the room banishing those concerns for now as he focused his entire being on the betrayal that swirled through his veins. Emma followed him slowly, he wanted to stop her, to force her to wait inside, but he needed her to see, needed his men to see. His crew was assembled on the deck when they emerged, all eyes turned to him, none he noticed dared to linger on her as she came to stand away from them all.

Hook stalked onto the deck like a tornado of suppressed rage, feeling as though he could have split flames his fury burned so brightly inside his chest. The offending men were strung up by the necks to the centre mast, limbs cast out bound and straining against the power of the sail as they fought to breathe.

"Mutiny!" Hook roared, his crew bellowed back in answering rage, to betray the Captain was to betray them all. Hook turned to the offenders, certain now that this was an isolated incident, his crew was _his_ once more as the memory of the last mutiny lay before them all.

"My orders were clear." Hook's voice was deadly calm as it swept over them all. "The Princess was off limits." He pointed to her with his hooked appendage, knowing how it flashed in the candlelight. "Fortunately, my lovely," he swept towards her with dangerous energy bouncing through each foot, he reached for her chin, tilting it into the light, "viscous little Swan." He breathed, "Is more than capable of taking care of herself." He pressed a kiss to her trembling lips, the only part of her that gave away a thing as he stared her in the eye; if she insisted on being here, then she needed to be a stone for this. He watched as the steel crept into her gaze... she could do this.

Hook spun to face the dangling desperate men, their naked bodies revealing as clearly as he could the damage she'd managed to inflict for every second they'd attempted to hold her.

"Captain, we didn't touch her." Mullins, Hook recognised the cowardly weasel, even now he thought he could slip out of this.

"It wasn't for a lack of trying." Hook snarled, darting forwards his hook flashed and a gash identical to the one he gave Noodler as a stark warning to the others marred his face, the fool roared in pain, but Hook was only spurred on by the sound. "How's the knee?" he queried lightly, the inflamed twisted appendage looked unsightly as Hook twisted it sharply causing the pirate to scream without dignity. "I'd imagine it's as well as those smashed ankles?" Hook laughed, causing a rousing chorus from his men as he hefted an oar, swinging it with a crack that had the bastard blacking out.

"Wake him up." Hook instructed Jukes, disgusted with the hanging sap of a man as he turned on Foggerty.

"Are you going to tell me you didn't betray me... that you didn't touch her?" Hook danced forward, his Hook flashing and causing the other man to flinch. But Foggerty was made of sterner stuff, he spat on the ground at his feet, refusing to be cowed, letting Hook know that this was the ring leader.

Foggerty grinned into a leer, staring him straight in the eye. "She tasted like sunshine."

Hook grinned savagely right back, "Did you enjoy it Foggerty? How about when she crushed your pathetic excuse for manhood beneath her boot?"

Foggerty barked out a laugh that masked the agony he was clearly in, his smashed nose, making his eyes little more than swollen slits that he stared malevolently out of now. "Worth it." He hissed, turning his gaze on Emma. "Do your worst _Captain_." He drawled the word with derision, "I can still taste her... you try and tell any of these pitiful dogs now that she ain't worth the risk. That nailing a Princess to the ground ain't worth the fight." He grinned back, knowing just what effect his words were having on the easily swayed men all around, who glanced back at Emma once more with hungry, contemplating gazes.

Hook swayed, incandescent with rage he had to act, had to stop this, whatever it was, dead in its tracks, he would not have this bilge swigging bottom feeder threaten his authority... not on his own goddamn ship! His weaponised hand shot out, the mutineers skin parted like butter as the curved blade slid in and with practiced ease he tore his still beating heart from his chest, his meagre hard won magic more than enough to take this. Hook caught it deftly in his good hand, as he held the pulsating glowing thing in front of Foggerty's face, seeing the horrified man comprehend for the first time the true price of mutiny on board this ship. Hook held the enchanted heart aloft, his hook flashing anew as every eye watched with bated breath.

"A pound of flesh, for every inch of her you laid your grubby fingers upon. It's only sporting." Hook grinned as he bought the curved blade down again relishing the scream of agony that tore free as his eyes finally reflected the fear imminent death bought all men, no matter how brave they pretended to be. Hook stopped whilst he was still twitching, his skin a patchwork of non-fatal wounds that were nowhere near as satisfying as he'd hoped. The beating heart still clasped aloft in his hand, Hook once more brought it to Foggerty's eyeline, giving it a sharp squeeze that saw his eyes bulge out of his head with agony; his life literally in Hook's hand. "How are you at fetch Foggerty?" Hook flashed him a grin of sheer malice that only partially masked the thrill, as he hurled the heart into the ocean. The condemned man spluttered, his shout for mercy lost as water began to pour out of his open orifice, drowning on deck. But still Hook was not content, he raised his hook one last time. "Drowning... it lacks something doesn't it Foggerty. Far better for a Pirate to go out in a fight, no?" he grasped the man's bound arm, retrieving his own sword from his belt and in one fluid movement, taking his hand clean off. He held the separated limb aloft. "Something to muddy the waters." Hook grinned, tossing the hand overboard whilst the mutineer gasped desperately for air that would never come.

Hook watched as his men one by one, began to inch towards the edge, peering over, taking in the sight he knew was looming... the circling fins, attached to razor sharp jaws, all focused intently on finding the meat that had so carelessly found itself in their waters. The first bite was the worst, it damn near halved the man. But clearly the sharks were in a playful mood taking their time with his heart, as chunk after chunk began to disappear. Silence wracked Hook's ship save for the thrashing sound of the sharks in the water as they feasted. Hook waited, watching until there was nothing left of the man just a few chunks on the deck... the parts they didn't like. Hook met the eye of every sailor on his ship unflinchingly, ignoring his own internal horror that such a fate might one day await him, if he ever failed to keep order again.

Starkey's hand came down on his shoulder "Fresh meat there Captain." He indicated the now conscious form of Mullins who was white as a sheet and shaking like the coward he was as Hook approached carelessly kicking a left over limb out of his path; hearing the squelch of blood beneath his boots and smelling the distinctive scent of a man emptying his bowels in terror.

Hook was aware of Emma some way behind him, aware of her unusually harsh breathing, as his own breathing calmed. He hadn't heard her screaming and as he glanced back at her he realised she hadn't even shed a tear, her eyes were wide and her skin was almost translucent the colour drained completely from her, but she was silent. Although he noticed her hand was gripping her gun like a lifeline. He wondered what it had cost her not to use it, to spare the condemned his fate... or perhaps to shoot him himself and stop the madness he had wrought? Their eyes locked and her expression gave away nothing, which unnerved him as he returned his attention to the still breathing betrayer.

He'd let his rage get the best of him, he had meant Foggerty to have a slow death, but he had to silence that mouth of his, which meant Mullins here would have to be made the example of.

"My dear Lady, thinks I should show you mercy Mullins, do you think you deserve mercy?" Hook teased, stroking the hook down his cheek, threatening the other eye. The fool was too addled to even nod hopefully, he just gaped back. He placed the bloodied hook beneath Mullins chin and turned the man's head so that they were both now staring at Emma who had backed herself up to the entrance of the cabin door as if to flee. "I have no use for a cripple..." he was speaking directly to her now, but she wouldn't meet his eyes, refusing to be culpable for his sins it seemed. So he turned his attention back to his victim "and from the looks of it she most definitely crippled you." Hook smirked taking in his twisted ankles, he leant in close, letting the fool see his death the instant before his blade sung into the flesh of his gut and tore across, spilling the contents onto the deck. The pirate jerked in agony, but still alive as Hook raised his curved weapon, holding it to his throat in threat, watching as the man closed his eyes, happy to die and end the agony.

Hook pulled away, leaving his neck untouched. "Wait for him to die. Then cut them down, toss his body to the sharks if they'll have him and then scrub their stink out of my decks." His order barked, he waited for the response he needed.

"Could take a while," Starkey spoke up just as Hook required, "Looks like you missed the vitals." Hook smiled thinly at him, letting it become perfectly apparent that he'd _missed _nothing.

"Two hours is our record is it not." Hook turned to his crew, seeing the fear and respect shining back as one. He wouldn't need to refresh their memory for some time after this little demonstration. "There's a trip to Tortuga in it for you all if you can keep that scurvy dog alive longer than that."

It was a horrific fate, the agony of hanging with your insides outside, waiting only for death, but it was necessary Hook conceded as he congratulated himself and the others as they set about their gruesome task, forcing them all to play a part in enforcing his example.

Emma gave him one long dark look, before she wrenched open the door to the inner deck and disappeared, clearly witnessing his little _example_ had cost her more than she'd expected. He imagined she'd gone to lock herself securely in his cabin with her gun aimed at the door, silent tears streaking down her eyes, a part of him thought it was the only sane thing to do. He stood watching the door, she would need time now, he'd shattered the fragile trust they'd been building, revealed his monster in far too cruel a manner for her to simply take it in her stride, strong though she was. But it was better it happened now, to ensure his word was law again, particularly where she was concerned, for the remainder of her time on board. He turned back to watch his men tormenting the condemned man into wakefulness, not even permitting him the peace of unconsciousness.

They'd made a liar out of him. That wasn't going to happen again. He was Captain Hook, they'd damn well remember it and so would he...


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Emma stood arms crossed staring out of the windows at the back of the cabin, watching the wake caused by the boat as the sun finally rose, trying to shut out the sound of laughter cut by the occasional agonised scream. Her mother had warned her about pirates, about Hook. She hadn't listened, seeing in him only a charming liar, a thief or smuggler. Nothing like the monster that had danced around the deck, his hooked hand menacing grown men to do his bidding as he rended flesh, until he was nothing more than a bloodsoaked beast lifted from the darkest tales.

She'd been so certain she could handle him; that she knew the type of man he was. But this was Neverland, and before that he was from a land of twisted fairytales, where no one and nothing was ever what it seemed. The dashing Pirate Captain from the stories, was still dashing, but he was also as dark and dangerous as any villain, with his own demons.

The lock clicked and Emma paused, knowing that the only person who would dare cross the threshold of this room now and probably ever again, was him. Her shoulders tensed as she felt him enter the room, the white hot fury that she'd felt him all but lash her with before seemed to seep in with him. Emma turned, the blood soaked man in front of her stared back, his eyes dark pits of misery and malice. He said nothing, crossing to the mirror and examining his blood splattered appearance as he picked up a rag and began to clean himself down. Emma swallowed bile, she hadn't thrown up, but the sight of him now twisted her stomach into knots and the images seared forever behind her eyes came rushing back. She needed to say something, distract herself, distract him. Emma could see the change in him, whatever that was up there, it had reverted him, there was barely a trace of the rogue that had sworn to protect her honour. Now more than ever, she needed the charming rogue... because she sure as hell couldn't handle the monstrous alternative, not without her gun pointed between his eyes.

The only solution was to treat him like nothing had changed. Say what she'd have said if she hadn't watched him tear a magical heart from a man's chest and disembowel another. "You were right." She acknowledged, seeing his eyes flicker to her in the mirror as he picked up a jug of water and upended it over his head, shaking the red tinged droplets from his hair like it was an every day occurrence. "You are nothing like _him_." She bit off, referring to her ex and one of their earlier conversations, one she knew he'd valued, apparently enough for him to catch her meaning now; his darkened expression only confirmed it.

"What would you have me do darling?" He sounded tired now, bone weary and she felt herself pause, she knew what he had done, knew some of why he had done it, did his motives really matter? Was she even so sure that he hadn't done it solely because his men had betrayed him? He crossed his arms, seeming content to let her stew about him as he stared through the mirror. "I am the Captain of a Pirate ship. Most of the time I keep control with my charming wit and keen ability to guide them to treasure and adventure." He smiled thinly, finally turning to stare at her directly, peeling his now soaked and stained leather jersey off his chest and dropping it to the floor in a wet mess, his shirt followed, leaving him bare-chested and showing her the extent to which he'd had to defend his position with every scarred mark on his revealed skin. "And when that fails... I am forced to keep the peace the only way a man can when surrounded by sharks. By being the first and last to bite."

Emma sucked in a breath in surprise she didn't appreciate the visual reminder; but apparently nothing was ever simple, no one was black and white... if he could be believed at all. Perhaps this was just a game he was playing now, pretend to be the guilt ridden bad guy riddled with self loathing, whilst trying to reform, to do the _right_ thing deep down inside? It was weak even in her desperate state, she'd of sneered at him if she hadn't been so worried how he might respond. Nowhere in him was the idiot fop of the Disney story, maybe he was closer to the book version, but she'd never read it so she couldn't be sure. But she was sure of this, he was a wicked blade masked by a charming smile and she had placed her life firmly in his hands. _Fool me twice, shame on me._ Apparently she'd learnt nothing since Neil.

But she could play along into his remorseful, 'I had no choice', fantasises just fine. "Why be this? Why not do something else?" she asked, seeing his smile turn almost winsomely charming as he chuckled, which disturbed her all the more because a part of her wanted to do nothing more than believe him, pretend right along with him. Whatever the hell he was, whatever he'd done, she was horrified to think that he might have actually succeeded in making her care. Which was ridiculous, she _didn't_ think she could save him... she couldn't be that deluded.

Hook was still chuckling, looking genuinely contrite, before his laughter snapped off, like he'd flicked a switch, his gaze grew hard and his tone clipped. "Don't misunderstand me Love. I _am_ this. I live for this, for the sea, for the adventure, for the Captaincy of my ship, for the fear and respect of the men and the adoration of the lasses. I might have once had a more forgiving nature, but I assure you, Rumplestiltskin cured me of that and gave me an outlet for the rage that courses through my blood."

Emma swallowed thickly, understanding now what his promise to her had truly meant back in the forest, of the true nature of his dark desires for revenge on the man that had turned him so completely into a monster. "Do we still have a deal Hook?" Emma queried, feeling the need now more than ever to lay her cards on the deck so to speak. Although having seen him, seen the truth of him here in Neverland, she wondered if he hadn't lied through that promise after all.

Hook stepped closer, she wanted to step back, to step away from that hooked hand now she knew what he used it for, but she forced herself to stand her ground. "What deal was that Love?" he smirked, his charming mask sliding back into place as his chest glistened with water, clinging to the remnants of another man's last gasp for life.

She knew it was a long shot, technically when Cora and the dust had failed them both, all bets were off, but she owed it to herself to try, to the town, to Henry. "That if we ever get back to Storybrooke, you'll stay your hand, your revenge, until I say otherwise?"

Hook was still, his eyes scanning her but looking for what she was no longer sure. "No." he admitted and Emma nodded, expecting nothing less but impressed at least with his honesty. "But I will make a new deal." His smile invited you in... she wasn't biting.

"No need." She stepped around him, sitting down on his chintzy _Chaise longue _and propping her feet up, trying to keep some measure of control in their dealings, which given as she was now thoroughly terrified of the man before her, was harder than she imagined. "We aren't going to reach Storybrooke." She smiled thinly at him, "And the only other promise between us, was yours to protect my honour..." her words cut, "I think you failed at that. So I don't think I'll be making any more bargains with you Captain Hook."

Hook was still again and she held her nerve, aware now of the fury that stillness hid and not eager to give it a target, she had no intention of ever being at the mercy of his curved blade, not after his little demonstration.

"You think me a monster?" he asked finally, crossing to her seated form, forcing her to stare up at him. Standing would be to admit that he was intimidating her, so she leant back feigning indifference.

"I think nothing of you." Emma retorted, keeping her inflection as innocent as possible, whilst letting her meaning remain ambiguous, trying to find a rhythm with him and some way back to their safer banter.

"Pity." He admitted finally, turning away from her. "I think the world of you." he gave her one of his megawatt smiles that twisted her stomach, only now it twisted in something other than misplaced attraction and bile rose at the thought of the situation she'd let herself be drawn into.

He shirked the remainder of his filthy clothes off, exposing his bare ass to her averted gaze as he pulled fresh garments from the ornate wooden chest in the corner of the room. If he was aware of her eyes unwillingly drawn to him, he made no mention of it. Only turning when he was dressed once more, his leather tunic retrieved from the floor as he sat at the table, propping his feet up and setting to work scrubbing it clean. Apparently happy to ignore her... she could live with that.

The day passed slowly, Hook left her alone for large parts of it, she heard his booming voice above once or twice as she distracted herself with the contents of his quarters. He had books, enough of them for it to be more than idle curiosity, she picked up the spines, entertaining herself with the contents of the first one. It was a novel, about a dashing Navy captain. Wishful thinking she imagined.

As the sun began to set, she became distinctly aware of the hollow pit in her stomach. She hadn't eaten anything in days and it was starting to make her lightheaded. Hook clearly read her mind, because when he returned he was flanked by a young looking pirate, clearly still in his teens who was balancing a tray of food piled high, which he proceeded nervously to lay out on the large wooden table.

"Emma darling." Hook indicated for her to take a seat. "You must be famished. Come eat with me." As he eased himself into the high backed chair at the head of the table. The young boy finished his task, swept Hook a nervous respectful nod and hurried out of the room without a word or glance in her direction.

"His first mutiny." Hook followed her gaze, "Teach 'em young, you never have to show 'em again." He smiled grimly, his accent changing to match a gruffer mans speech pattern. "Sit." He instructed when she didn't crack a smile.

Emma did as he instructed, it was a more impressive spread than she'd seen in sometime, they'd made do with whatever they could catch or shoot in the forest. But she could tell that there was meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, and an array of fish, with an entire jug of a thick dark liquid she assumed was some sort of wine or ale.

"I'm surprised you didn't take the opportunity to change out of those filthy clothes." He noted as she sunk into the seat furthest from him. She wasn't in the least bit surprised when he stood and appropriated the seat directly beside her instead. Emma didn't respond, unsure what he wanted her to say and not wanting to start a row when the chance of food was before her. He seemed to sense her anxiety because he sighed, sliding a plate in front of her. "Eat." He bit out sounding infuriated. "For heaven's sake woman, I promised you I wouldn't harm you. That includes not starving you, so eat. Nothing has changed." The unspoken knowledge that everything had changed, passed between them both.

Emma eyed him uneasily as she reached out, taking a leg of meat and biting into it with relief to find that it was as good as it looked.

He smirked. "You'll find my dear, that the one thing Neverland does extremely well is food. Almost as though what you wish for seems to make itself known. I once had a craving for squid that was so strong, we ended up trifling with a forty foot beast. As you can imagine, I've never really felt the urge again."

Emma swallowed carefully trying and failing not to crack a smile which seemed to only make his wider. "I'll be sure not to get a hankering for the Loch Ness Monster." He frowned his smile only faltering slightly as he got her intention, but not quite the reference.

"So, Emma." He settled back into his seat, watching her eat and looking thrilled that she was at least doing that quietly beside him. "Tell me what your favourite food is back in this magic-less world of yours. Perhaps I can get our cook to make something similar, he's very good. Most hygienic member of the crew." His grin was all teasing as she paused eating to consider the conditions in the kitchen and thought better of thinking about it at all.

He was trying, even she had to admit that, and if she was going to spend what might be a very long time on this boat, unchanging, then she needed to at least be civil to the psychopath. Not that it had worked for her with the Mad Hatter. What was it with men from this fairytale world? Did they all have a few screws loose?

He was still waiting so she cleared her throat, taking a sip of the drink which did indeed seem to be some sort of wine. "Well, I don't know. Most of what people eat in my world is processed crap." He frowned. "Cupcakes are good." She commented. "Hot chocolate." She smiled at the thought. "Guess you can't beat a steak or a burger," he was staring, "Red meat." She clarified and he nodded, pleased to have something familiar. "Pizza." She sighed, "Pizza and ice cream. Ok those I might have to try and get him to learn to make."

Hook grinned, "Trust me Love, if it can be done, you'll have it."

Emma smiled, trying not to break the moment as they ate the remainder of the meal in silence. But she had questions, to which he had the answers. "Hook." She asked gently and he sighed as if sensing he wasn't going to like the change in topic.

"Can it wait." He asked gently. "I have yet to sleep since our journey here and I fear I may not be able to hold my end of the conversation with such acerbic wit as you may have come to expect." He stood and Emma startled herself by catching his wrist, her hand curling around the skin there in surprise at the contact as she hastily pulled it away. He gave her a look and eased back into his seat. "Give me your hand again." He insisted. "You have questions yes?" he smirked, "then my price is your hand." Emma weighed the risk, it was after all just a hand, he wasn't going to reduce her to a hormone driven wreck and make her forget his monstrous nature with just her hand. Huffing she handed it to him, trying to ignore the way his fingers instantly set to work stroking her palm.

"You said that this place... we won't age, forever?" the fear in her voice was real and he brushed his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist as if he could feel the sudden jump in her heart rate at the idea.

"I did." He acknowledged. "A heady prize for some men," he looked up through his dark eyelashes at her, "A never ending curse for others." He admitted slowly, clearly wondering which side she'd come down on.

"And to you?" she pressed, as his fingers slid further up from her wrist to her forearm, clearly giving her hand hadn't stopped him from reaching for more, she filed that away for later. Apparently her wording needed to be tighter if she was bargaining with him in future.

"Means to an end." He replied succinctly. "Revenge takes time, time my Crocodile has, and I didn't."

Emma nodded. Of course; it had all been about his revenge.

"What do you do with forever, I mean for those of us that aren't plotting our deep dark revenge?" The question wasn't idle, no matter how lightly she phrased it and he brushed her bicep with his thumb, sliding his clever fingers higher up her arm.

"Ah so you're clearly coming down on the never ending curse side then?" he saw her nod sharply and snorted, clearly not surprised by her choice.

"Don't worry too much about that Princess, time is funny that way here. Days, weeks, months even years can pass in Neverland and barely a blink back home... wherever home might be. But the passing of it, you'll find it doesn't trouble you. I told you it would make you forget, I wasn't lying. I came here to plot my revenge... instead I forgot it entirely, just the hot ball of rage inside me that grew unsated for no reason I could recall." He was so candid now, like he had no idea that he was ripping the rug from under her.

Emma's face she knew betrayed her horror at the idea, because his hand stilled its exploration having finally crept its way to her cheek. He shifted rising out of his seat to perch on the side of the table directly in front of her, his fingers not releasing the skin of her cheek that he seemed to think he'd earned the right to caress. "I won't remember Henry? My family?" she asked aghast.

Hook leant towards her, his expression soft as his fingers brushed her lips, but she was too consumed by the idea that she might have truly lost everything, to care where he touched her. "Neverland is many things, but it is not cruel Emma. You keep only what you bring with you."

Emma felt the tears spill down her cheeks, absolute desolation setting route in her soul.

"You bought rage?" she queried and he gave her pained look. "And it festered." She realised, not wanting to turn that sharp eye on herself.

"If you bought sorrow... it will become all that you know." He warned her.

Emma gave him a shocked look, "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Hook took her by the hand she'd given him and tugged her up, so that she was flush against him, his hand splayed on her back. "Do what I did... bring something you want to keep with you instead." his gave her a searing look that left her in no doubt that she was what he was talking about before his lips crashed over hers; she was just broken enough to kiss him back for a fraction of a second, allowing herself to soften into his desperate embrace.

"No." she pushed him back, putting a few paces between them as she fought to regain her breathing and her control out of his grasp, shocked at how easy it was to let him take advantage of her. Hooks laugh startled her and she eyed him nervously.

"I have to say I'm impressed Love. I didn't think you had that sort of will power." He shook his head mirthlessly. "I don't." He admitted, leaning back again arms crossed, but his confidence now unsettled her and she got the distinct impression she'd missed something. She cast her mind back over the conversation, trying to see what trap she'd fallen into, what she'd overlooked.

The moment it hit her she shot her eyes to his, looking for the confirmation in the smug smirk plastered all over his face.

"No." she told him firmly, as if just saying that could make it true.

"Too late Princess. You know what you brought with you." Emma felt her hands rise to her mouth, panic threatened to overwhelm her as her chest tightened making breathing momentarily painful. How could she have been so stupid... but she hadn't known, ignorance shouldn't condemn her, it wasn't right!

"That was a mistake, a moment of weakness, I was thinking about a lot of things as we crossed over." She almost pleaded with him to humour her.

"In the very moment?" he pressed, grinning coolly, knowing full well the truth as her memory swam back to the way she had pressed a hard searing kiss of her own volition to his lips giddy with the delight of spinning into Neverland with him, of escaping...

Oh god. She'd been thinking of him, of the feel of his lips, of holding onto him so tightly, the very real fear of letting go of him coursing through her as they'd dangled perilously high up.

"You knew?" she stared at him accusingly.

He shrugged innocently. "_You_ kissed me Love, _you_ held on to me like your life depended on it. I'm a man; I can only hold one idea in my brain when a beautiful woman is throwing herself at me."

"How can you be sure?" she tried to breathe slowly, so as not to hyperventilate, this had to explain her growing attraction to him, in spite of his monstrous nature. She felt sick, the idea that some weird magic might be screwing with her emotions was a violation on so many levels; that he'd possibly set her up for this... she stared up at him through narrowed vision, envisaging her fist connecting solidly with his smug face.

Hook stood, his arms uncrossed, doing nothing, yet somehow managing to look threatening. "I'll admit; I was attracted to you before, more than attracted." He admitted, "I wanted you Love, I wanted you in a way I hadn't felt since Mila, wanted to know you, know all of you."He took a step forward that made her inch back, terrified now that she had somehow made a deal she'd had no intention of, which might turn out to be binding. "But now?" he quirked an eyebrow. "As Starkey pointed out to me as he mopped up Mullins' guts from the deck, I might have overreacted somewhat, after all it wasn't like the lads had actually succeeded in having their wicked way with you."

Emma swallowed. "You knew this could happen, you should have stopped it." Not likely she realised, this was exactly the opportunity he'd been looking for.

Hook shook his head. "I've travelled to Neverland exactly twice Love. The first time the only thing on my mind was my rage my thirst for revenge. When that became an all consuming desire, I thought nothing of it. It was only when I returned home, that I was able to breathe without the crushing weight of it. When you crossed my path and started me thinking about all new, interesting things, I considered that perhaps I had fallen prey to the magic of Neverland."

"You planned this, you tricked me." She declared, feeling betrayed and utterly duped.

"No Love. You kissed me remember. I was thinking of something else entirely before you stuck your delectable tongue in my mouth." Emma froze at his words, if he was right... he _was_ right, unless he somehow manipulated her into that kiss... but she had no excuse, no retort. It was her fault, if anything she should have been apologising to him. She'd cursed them both by her stupid utterly hormone driven moment of insanity.

Emma turned away from him, not certain she could bear to look at him. "You'd been thinking of Mila... loving her, not avenging her." She realised quietly, that sick feeling doubling. She was right, she really was a walking harbinger of misery.

"The best laid plans Love. I figured if I couldn't be with her, I could remember how she made me feel, let this place do it's magic and bring it all flooding back." Hook was behind her now, the nearness of him making her uneasy, and raising the hairs on the back of her neck. His arms slid around her waist, she hated that it didn't feel completely wrong. "I'm not saying this is a bad thing Emma, believe me I would rather have the reality of wanting you coursing through me, than forever of her memory."

Emma bowed her head. This wasn't right. She told him just that and he released her with a sigh that she knew was at her own stubbornness. "You won't be able to fight this." he was being honest and she hated the expression on him. "It would be pointless to try, but I know it's in your nature. So I'm sure we'll have months of this long drawn out tension between us before you succumb to the inevitable. Perhaps when the memory of what happened up on deck has faded, you'll start to remember what it was that so enticed you to kiss me in the first place."

He retreated to the bedroom without another word, hopping up onto the covers and giving her an inviting smile that she ignored. Crossing to the _Chaise longue_ instead, she curled up on it, intent to fight whatever the hell this was for as long as she was able. Hook's unamused laughter filtered through to her but she refused to listen. She _could_ fight this. She _would_ fight this.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The mermaid screeched violently forcing Emma to clap her hands over her ears, which whilst holding a sword was a more skilful move than you'd expect.

"You can rescue us any day now Love!" Hook shouted above the sound of the siren, her suggestion of makeshift candle wax ear plugs seemed to be working out for him... until she noticed his hand and hook were working feverishly in tandem to free himself from the ropes she'd lashed around him. The rest of the crew were in worse shape, the sound of the ethereal voice having turned them into hopeless morons, desperate to fling themselves to their briny deaths; if they weren't similarly tied down that was. At least being female she was relatively immune, although the wailing was starting to give her a migraine. The boat rocked violently as the bitch sent a surge of water their way, trying to topple any unsuspecting sailors out of the safety of the boat. Emma clung on to the centre mast, trying to hold onto the sword and promising herself that she wouldn't hesitate, she'd run this scaled temptress through.

Hook had freed an arm... Emma felt a twinge of panic, trying and failing to assess if the feeling was genuine, and deciding it didn't really matter. She had to save him, because frankly this ship without Hook was not going to be a place she'd want to stay long. Stumbling across the deck, Emma practically fell into him.

"Kiss me Love." He insisted, straining against his bonds to reach her, his free hooked arm trying to draw her closer. "Distract me from this sea demon with your charms." Emma bit her lip, focusing instead on capturing his wandering arm at the wrist and pulling the hook off. She'd have done it earlier, but he hadn't exactly been cooperative with the thought of losing his weapon. For a brief moment she considered tossing it overboard... she slipped it around his belt instead, ensuring it was firmly attached, before lashing the ropes he'd managed to cut, back around his body. "My darling girl, would you deny a dying man his last request?" his lips were inches from her face as she tightened the ropes aggressively, causing him to wince.

"You're not dying. Shut up." She snarled. "In case you haven't noticed I'm trying to save your ass. You and the rest of your stupid crew." She drew her blade again, convinced that Hook was contained for the time being as her eyes scanned the rest, they were held firm. Great. Now all she had to do was kill a mermaid.

"Starboard." Hook rasped and she watched him out of the corner of her eye, making the conscious decision to go port instead and almost losing her eye to a swipe of claws as the creature leapt out of the water aiming for the threat. So Hook was addled too, whatever good her ear plugs had done had clearly faded, he was no longer on _her_ team. Emma swung the sword, but the bitch was already diving back under the water. How the hell was she supposed to do this without getting in the water... which was most definitely not happening.

This was all Hook's fault anyway, the mermaids had never bothered them before, not this aggressively anyway, they were more like opportunistic predators, enticing a man who came to close to his death, rather than the assault a whole ship type. Or at least so Starkey had informed her as they'd started lashing pirates to the deck together. No this was because blasted Hook just had to go looking for their sunken treasure, the giant pearl he'd retrieved and handed to her with a flourish had been a nice gesture... so had her hurling it back overboard. Sadly the mermaids hadn't felt the same way, he'd stolen from them, the fact that they had it back meant nothing. Stupid Pirate.

A blast of water hit her soundly from behind, sending her sprawling onto the ground and scrambling after her sword. She turned in time to see the mermaid clinging onto the side of the ship, her arms latched firmly around Hook's chest, crushing the life out of him, her mouth opened revealing razor sharp teeth...

Emma froze, warring instincts battling, the desperate desire to save Hook, to keep the bitch from taking him away from her; with the desire to simply let her have him; before she forced her legs to move. Not liking one bit the eventual winning instinct that send her careening into the mermaid and without much further thought, straight over the edge of the ship, to land heavily in the freezing water with a shout of surprise. Strong fingers wrapped around her ankles and dragged her spluttering under. Emma stabbed blindly downward, surprised to find her sword still in her hand as she hacked away until the pressure on her ankles released and she shot towards the surface, breaking it and inhaling as much air as she could.

Turning on the spot, Emma tried to scan the water, deciding the murky depths were impossible to see through she hastily began to put one arm in front of the other, desperate to reach the rope hanging over the side of the ship.

"Emma!" Hook's voice bellowed, breaking through the sound of the sea and the fresh sounds of the mermaids screeching wail, which were like nails on a chalk board to her. The bitch had decided apparently to renew her attack on the men now that the only woman was overboard and helpless. Terrific.

Something slammed into her back, the blade sailing out of her hand to sink beneath the water and she had a moment to appreciate the devious little mermaids diversion before she was dragged under. Emma struggled against the vice like grip, kicking and lashing out with her bare hands, trying as they got ever deeper not to panic, as her lungs began to burn with the desperate need for air. Don't panic, panic was death, she reminded herself, sure she'd seen that on Baywatch years ago…

What the hell was Baywatch? Her mind threw the question at her and she felt herself reel, Baywatch was a TV show, from her world… _her_ world, she wasn't from Neverland, didn't belong here.

Henry!

Panic flooded her, she'd forgotten Henry, forgotten about getting home to him. She hadn't been here that long had she? But her vision was growing dark, her lungs were screaming at her now to act or lose them forever. The grip on her ankles rose until the mermaid was in her face, the razor sharp smile should have worried her, but she was drowning… the effort to move was too great. Henry's image flashed behind her eyes as she felt her eyelids closing, her body convulsing beyond her control. She couldn't fail Henry, she had to get back to him… she had to. Her hands went around the mermaids throat, keeping those teeth out of her jugular as she fought for control. It was futile she realized as the mermaid batted her hands away, her teeth clamped around her throat and bit down hard.

Time froze. Emma saw the blood changing the colour of the water all around her, felt the sting of the bite, the tearing of the flesh. But it was far away, all she could feel was the burning of her lungs… and the thought of Henry. He'd never know what happened to her. Never know the adventures she'd had on board a pirate ship. Never see just how far she'd come, how she believed… in him, in her. How much she loved him.

Light tore from her body, the entire ocean illuminated in the blinding flash of purple that seared her very soul. The mermaid was torn from her, her screech was a dying wail as she fell still, twisted and damaged by the force of the blast. Emma blinked, the light had not faded, it was coming from her.

"_Henry_." She had to live for Henry. But there was no strength left in her body, her limbs wouldn't respond, her brain couldn't even seem to find her limbs to control. The pain in her lungs wasn't even as bad now she acknowledged as her eyes drifted shut, she just needed to rest, then it would be fine.

88888

Emma awoke spluttering, vomiting water as she desperately tried to draw air into her starved and burning lungs. The mouth that had been on hers withdrew with the force of her movement, hands were on her shoulders, trying to ease her back down, she flailed, panicked. The mermaid was killing her.

"Easy Love, calm down, you're alive." Hook's voice was clear enough as she felt his hand brushing the hair from her face, groggily she opened her eyes, he was soaking wet and inches from her, the desire to pull him down to press those snarky lips of his against hers was almost all consuming. She bit down sharply on the inside of her mouth, forcing the pain to become her focus for a moment as she drew in one shaking breath after another. He'd saved her life.

"Is it dead. Did I get it?" she asked when she'd finally got her breath back, accepting the help of Hook and Jukes as they eased her up into a sitting position. Starkey she noticed was already cutting loose the rest of the men.

"Oh you got it love. One deep fried mermaid…. dead just not quite as expected." He grinned rakishly back at her, but she could see his expression was masking anger. He'd almost lost her, it was written plainly all over his face. "How did you manage that trick by the way Love, from my experience, water tends to trump fire."

Emma stared back at him; how the hell _had_ she killed the damn thing? The last thing she remembered was drowning, of panicking and the feel of teeth tearing at her neck. Her hand rose and she hissed in pain, pulling away bloodied fingers.

"Get me water, a clean rag and some rum." Hook barked an order, his hand removing hers firmly as he examined the wound. "Let's get her down below. Jukes." He instructed as the larger tattooed man lifted her up like she weighed nothing and did as instructed, carrying her until he was able to sit her down on the wooden table Hook's cabin. Juke's didn't leave as Hook returned, the items he'd requested in his hand.

"Thank you my Lady." Jukes told her firmly, drawing her attention to him in surprise. He was a man of few words, and they weren't usually encouraging, but clearly mermaids were a particularly problem for him, because she nodded abruptly, accepting his thanks as he nodded and exited the room locking it firmly behind him.

"Tilt your head to the side." Hook instructed, seeming to ignore the exchange as he approached her with the now alcohol soaked rag. "I need to clean it."

"The bite's not poisonous is it?" Emma asked uneasily, hissing sharply as the alcohol hit the damaged flesh.

"No idea. Most men don't survive a run in with a mermaid once their under water." He snapped, clearly his anger hadn't abated, as he dragged the cloth a little sharply across the wound, forcing her to grip onto the edge of the table hard enough until her hands ached rather than scream.

"That's comforting." She managed to retort as he tried the water instead, which was a blessed relief compared to the rum.

"You used magic." His tone brooked no argument and Emma closed her eyes, not wanting to discuss it, but certain he'd push her to anyway.

"Apparently." Emma supplied. Not even certain of it herself.

"Oh it was magic alright. Damn blast of it travelled up through my bones and tore the ropes from my body. Seemed like you were calling me for help Love." He smirked, his touch more gentle now as he raised his hook to her chin, using it to turn her head back to face him, the rum soaked rag once more pressed firmly against her throat. "Hold it there." He instructed and she raised her hand, keeping it pressed.

"So you what, decided to dive in the water after me on the off chance I'd taken care of the mermaid already?" Emma quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him, seeing the flicker of irritation cross his face. He could pretend all he liked, but Emma knew he hated being a slave to his emotions just as much as her. She'd bet he'd felt compelled to come after her, his own safety be damned.

"Curse or not Love. I'd have come after you." He insisted, and Emma smirked, wondering which of them he was trying to convince.

"I held up my end. The mermaid's dead. Guess we're even." She informed him dryly, hating the fact that his proximity was doing strange things to her already exhausted body.

"Hardly even. You threw a priceless treasure… one of _my_ priceless treasure's overboard." He snarled, but it lost some of his bite, given as his hand was trailing through her wet tresses, trying to draw her head closer. Emma placed her palm against his chest, stopping the movement dead, not removing her other hand from the still throbbing neck wound.

"It wasn't yours; that was the whole point." Emma bit back. "You got us into this mess and as usual, I had to get us out of it. Stupid Pirate." She muttered, hating that he smiled every time she used the damn term, like it was some sort of pet name.

"Emma." He almost sighed and she stood, pushing passed him, her leather outfit becoming heavier by the minute.

"I need to change." She instructed, not caring to hear whatever his next comment would be.

"We need to talk about the magic." He caught her arm with the hook, stopping her movement dead. His dark eyes searched her, looking for something.

"What's to talk about?" Emma shrugged. "I have magic, you have magic, half the damn world has magic."

Hook's blade bit into the bicep as he tugged her back, his hand moving to catch her other one and spin her around to face him. "No Love. They really don't. And not the type that can do what you just did. I felt it remember, tasted all sorts of delicious power wrapped up inside this unassuming package of yours."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you want me to say. I have no idea about magic, whatever it was, it was a fluke, a desperate last gasp."

Hook didn't relent, his hands slid around her waist tugging her closer. "I nearly lost you today." He breathed and she held hers, not wanting to temptation she knew she'd be able to smell all over him, his scent did ridiculously teenage things to her body. "So it matters." He admitted, his gaze was one overwrought nerve away from panic and it unnerved her. "What were you thinking about in that moment Emma, try and remember?"

Remember. That was the problem with this place, it was so damn impossible to hold onto any emotional memory for long enough for it to be of use to you. But she had to try. "I didn't want to die." She supplied, having searched herself and coming up empty. "I was panicking. I tried not to."

"Why?" he pressed.

And Emma shrugged, "I don't know, because panicking didn't seem like the most useful thing to do right then… because." She stopped. Because she remembered something telling her that. Emma fought with the memory, trying to cling to it. "Because of Henry." She breathed, the word was like a prayer she realized, blazing inside of her like an inferno.

"Who's Henry?" Hook frowned, looking as confused as she felt.

"I have no idea." Emma closed her eyes, searching for something, anything to associate with the name, but all she felt was fear, and loss and… love. Then it was gone. She opened her eyes onto him. "I've lost something." She told him quietly. "Killian." She whispered his name, seeing him soften fractionally as he always did when she resolved to call him by it. "What does this mean… I need to remember it I'm certain, whatever that magic was, it was all about this Henry, how can I find it again if I don't even know who he is?"

Hook kissed her and she turned her head away, giving him her cheek instead. "There is a name that rattles around my head too." He admitted and she turned back, staring, he'd never mentioned it before. "Rumplestiltskin." Emma frowned.

"Funny sort of name." she admitted, and his lip twitched, something about the name seemed to strike a nerve in him.

"I think I'm supposed to kill him." Hook admitted, turning away from her and focusing instead on taking a swig of the rum.

"You think you're supposed to kill a lot of men." She pointed out uncharitably, his violent nature as ever a bone of contention between them. Although strangely, she was certain she'd heard that name somewhere before. "Was he a crocodile?" she asked hesitantly, seeing Hook's eyes flash.

"Yes… yes. My Crocodile, I have to skin me a crocodile." He grinned, before it faded, clearly along with the memory, she could see him struggling to hold it futilely.

"You said Neverland wasn't cruel." Emma recalled, surprised how easy the memories associated with him specifically were to bring to the fore, when everything else just seemed to wash away. "How is this not cruel?"

"No idea Love." Hook muttered, handing her the rum, she hesitated a beat before taking a long sip of it, she could almost taste his lips on the bottle and she hastily handed it back, watching him enjoy the same feeling as he savored the sensation. "Why is it that you resist me at every turn… is that not just as cruel?" his eyebrow arched imperiously at her, but he couldn't even manage a smirk this time, she shouldn't let him drink she realized, he always got this way with rum in his hand. The last trip out to Tortuga she'd had to get Jukes to help her dunk his entire body in a barrel of frozen water in an attempt to sober him up and stop him lamenting about the torment she caused him.

"No." she bit off pushing away the memory and answering his question, why was it memories formed in Neverland faded slower? She swiped the rum from him and took another long swallow, feeling it burn all the way down, but it would numb the pain of her neck and the soreness of her limbs.

"Do you even know why you're resisting this… us?" he pressed, taking the rum and letting his fingers trail down hers as he grasped it.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Because I'm not interested." She retorted, far too quickly.

"Of course you are Love. I saw that flying leap you took at that overgrown fish woman. You couldn't stand to watch her sink her teeth into me." Now he was grinning.

"No more than you could let me drown." Emma replied, just as smoothly, taking the rag off her neck and examining it, pleased to see the bleeding seemed to have stopped.

Hook snorted. "Please Love, I have hardly lied about my intentions, you know full well my desires for you. It is you that denies us even this measure of happiness." He smirked. "How about that time I rescued you from those savages… they'd have boiled you up for dinner, all because you couldn't keep your mouth shut and just bow to Princess Tiger Lilly and her well armed men with the rest of us. Did I not prove then that I was just as willing to risk life and limb, several in fact, for you?"

Emma glared soundly at him, the conversation was far too close to a subject her mind didn't seem to want to let her approach. Why did she resist him so strongly? She was certain there had been a reason, certain it explained why she refused to take the bed beside him and continued to sleep poorly on his couch. She hated Neverland she decided, it felt like she was constantly battling a fog within her own mind, until she had no idea what was real and what wasn't.

"You're no good for me." Emma supplied finally, the words were a struggle even to get out, and even then she questioned them, not certain for one minute if it was the truth anymore.

"You don't sound so certain." Hook pointed out, sitting on the edge of the table casually watching her for any tick of expression that he could no doubt exploit.

"And you don't sound like a Pirate." Emma bit back. "Go bother someone else with your _feelings_." She snarled, turning away from him. "I need to change and sleep. Neither of which I want to do with you in the room."

Hook was silent, no biting retort this time, she didn't dare look back, approaching the wardrobe cautiously and removing fresh, dry clothes.

"You're cold." Hook supplied finally and she bowed her head, wondering if he'd meant to sound so broken. But a blanket went around her shoulders and she sighed, wondering how the hell he could be both a monster and a man… if he even was. His arms rubbed the blanket across her shoulders, the friction warming her slightly, she hadn't even realized her skin had gone like ice.

"Dry yourself, there's more blankets in the trunk." He indicated the ornate wooden box. "You take the bed tonight. I'll take the couch." He wasn't offering she realized, hearing the bite of the order, but right now, she couldn't be bothered to argue, she needed to rest, she felt like she'd been hit by a truck.

"Thank you." She admitted, turning to face him, surprised how close he was, at the emotions dancing behind his normally inscrutable eyes.

"Thank you." He replied. "You saved my ship, my crew and my life. I think a night in a warm bed is barely gratitude enough." His lips curled. "I'd offer you other rewards, but I'm certain you'd reject them." He leant in, placing a lingering kiss to the corner of her mouth that for once she didn't jerk away from, allowing him that at least as he withdrew. His smile seemed genuine and she couldn't fight the one she gave in response. Sometimes he wasn't all bad she admitted to herself, wrapping the blanket tighter around her as he left the room, the distinctive sound of the lock clicking.

Emma waited a beat before crossing to the mirror, she stared at her own reflection. The name Henry swirled inside of her like a maelstrom, that cleared only when she thought of Hook. Neverland was playing head games, she had to fight it, fight through it, there was something she was supposed to be doing. But no answers presented themselves and the name drifted away as she pressed her palm into the glass, touching it as if trying to touch another life… there was something behind the mirror, something always behind the mirror, she just needed to reach it.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

The damn crocodile had almost eaten him whole.

Emma grasped his arm as they managed to get him back on board the ship, he looked elated, but she could feel the adrenalin pulsing through him as he held the creature's heart aloft in his hand. Roaring victoriously at his men as the beast that had hounded their ship for days had finally succumbed. The hide was dragged on board, arrows and blades still sticking out of it as he stalked around all twenty foot of it, examining every inch of the monstrous creature that seemed to have a taste for human flesh.

Emma tried to remain calm, tried to justify her concerns, as she'd watched him battling the thing, but as she watched him drink and celebrate his victory with his men, the intensity boiled over as he grasped her hand, dragging her up to dance and holding the bottle of rum out to her like an apology.

The alcohol dulled her senses, but the panic that tightened her chest refused to abate, only lessened when his hands slid around her waist, pulling her flush against him as he plied them both with rum until the air seemed saturated with it.

This wasn't the first time they'd been in life and death situations, most of their situations seemed to end that way, but there was just something about the Crocodile, about what she knew of Hook's story, the idea that he might lose the other hand... or worse, a crocodile was supposed to have killed him in the end. Whatever it was this time had felt different, his elation rang hollow inside of her. They had been playing this game between them for so long now that she knew his every quirk and twitch, but it was changing, as she swayed in his arms, taking the rum from him, taking every drop of courage she could from it.

"Kiss me Love." It was his plaintive plea, always, as he backed her up to the mast, leaning in and demanding she end this unspeakable tension between them, the sound of the music seemed to fade into the background as they shared a breath, nose to nose.

"Never." She reminded him, her hand that had meant to push him away fell heavy against his chest, she couldn't seem to find the will to shove him this time.

"I saw you Love." He reminded, leaning in to whisper in her ear, the sensation sending a jolt straight to her groin as she struggled to keep the memory of the crocodile's pulsating heart in her mind. "You were worried. Seconds away from hurling yourself after me." He taunted and she felt her head hit the mast in mortification. This contradiction was impossible. She didn't want him, couldn't, but she absolutely had to have him, or she'd burst. He was swaying their hips together in time to the music, drawing ever increasing levels of tension, her whole body almost vibrating with the desire to feel every inch of him against her.

Her hand rose almost unbidden to slide through his hair, drawing his head down closer to her. They were so good together, as a team she trusted him implicitly to have her back. Why couldn't she trust him with this? He'd proven time and again that they were in this together, that Neverland was their playground, their adventure, their glorious journey. Why did it have to be apart?

Hook waited. He always waited, only ever pushing so far, never crossing that line that would force her to push him away forever. His stolen kisses their guilty secret, just so long as she always pushed him away in the end... Emma pulled his head down, crushing her lips against his with an audible sound of relief as his tongue slid into her mouth, tasting and exploring her until she was all but trembling with the need to sate the lust he so easily stoked. He wasted no time, his legs stumbling as he half dragged, half carried her from the deck down to his cabin, fumbling with the lock long enough to give her time to breathe and back away.

"Don't." He whispered, approaching her again, his desperation clear as he grasped her shoulders, "Don't you dare reconsider." He warned, finding her mouth again and driving the thought out of her head as her hands pulled him closer, wrapping herself around him and giving in to the absolute sensation of _right_ as he pushed them back to the table. There was no preamble as they tore at each other's clothes. She'd wanted this for so long, denied herself it for longer. For what? The only person she was making miserable was herself, and right now as his mouth travelled down her neck, she was far from miserable as he lifted her up onto the table, her back hit it and she moaned as he wrapped her legs around his waist, his hands sliding along her front, fighting for entrance with her clothing.

Hooke's hand tugged at the ridiculous corset that she'd managed to force herself into for their latest visit ashore. He grunted in frustration as the fabric refused to give and he gave up, his hand working the laces of her leather pants, trying to find more than an inch of her flesh that he could actually touch unimpeded. "Emma!" he all but cussed, with a roar of frustration as he joined her on the table and slid up her body, content to grind against her for the moment whilst she tugged his shirt over his head, mouthing the exposed nipple on his chest and causing him to hiss in half pain and pleasure as her teeth teased it.

"Don't tease me Love." He pleaded, the extent of her torment pressed hard between her legs, restrained by his leather trousers. His lips bit into her exposed collarbone, tracing every inch of skin he could find in sheer desperation.

Emma arched beneath him as his hands palmed her breasts roughly. "Killian." She breathed, the use of his name no longer unfamiliar to her after spending so long working side by side, the desperate urge to give into this unconsummated attraction like a tombstone of torment around her neck.

"Emma, help me." He breathed, tugging at her clothes desperately. Emma slid her hand into her boot, handing him the knife she kept concealed there with a wicked grin. "That's my girl." He grinned rakishly, wasting no time in sliding the razor sharp blade beneath the clothing and slicing it from her pliant body with consummate skill. The moment the fabric parted, the knife was abandoned and his hands slid over her skin the look of absolute abandon on his face was more arousing than anything she'd ever experienced as his rough fingers touched her breasts for the first time, turning her breasts into hard taut peaks in mere moments.

His mouth crashed against hers and she was hard pressed to remember why it was she'd been fighting this for so long. The feel of his tongue sliding against hers as he explored her mouth whilst his hands slid beneath the fabric of her skirt to finally graze her aching centre was as close to perfection as she had felt in a long time. The moan she released into his mouth was practically wanton.

"You were right." He rasped against the sensitive skin behind her ear, his tongue flicking out into the shell and sending jolts of excitement through her as he slid long careful fingers into her with assured confidence of a man who knew just how to make her scream.

"About what?" she raked her fingers through his dark hair, tracing her nails down his back and trying to divest him of his leather trousers so she could see him.

"Waiting." He bit her ear causing her to arch and pulse her inner muscles deliciously around his questing fingers. "Your touch is like fire to me now Love."

She finally managed to divest him of his trousers, pushing them down his hips far enough that she had freed his straining erection, in seconds she'd grasped him firmly, not caring about the way he almost hissed, clearly desperate for her not to push him beyond his straining limits too soon. "Hook." She warned, enjoying the feel of him pulsing in her hand as he ground into her, the need to feel him inside of her was intense, his fingers weren't enough, she needed this, needed him. "Now." She ordered, pulling him towards her as he withdrew his hand, letting her guide him in, he needed no further encouragement as he gave one long hard thrust, burying himself to the hilt and stopping abruptly, his one hand clutching her shoulder as kissed her deeply. "Move." She insisted when he remained still for so long she thought she might burst with need.

"Is that the sound of you begging me Love?" his grin would need to be chiselled from his face as she wrapped her legs around his hips, taking the initiative and rocking herself beneath him until he could hold out no longer, his hips beginning to piston in time with her desperate rhythm. Emma felt her eyes roll back as he drove deeply into her, pulling out fully only to slam back in, drawing every shred of sensation he could from their frantic coupling. There would be time for slow languorous love making, this was not it, they both needed this too badly, needed to feel the release of the other. Her hands cupped his ass cheeks, feeling the muscles straining as her hips pulled him closer still, wishing she could stay in this moment forever as he bit down hard against the skin on her neck, marking her, marking this moment. Emma came hard, screaming his moniker and not his given name into the salty skin of his shoulder, biting him in turn to clamp down on the sensations tearing through her as she rode out her orgasm beneath him, feeling him jerk gasping as he found his release.

He collapsed beside her as she lay, her back pressed against the hard wood of the table, watching the chandelier rock buffeted by the movement of the boat as they lay in uncomfortable silence, catching their breath.

"Don't say it." Hook sighed. Emma turned her head slowly to look at him, he looked resigned.

"That would be a cliché wouldn't it." Emma muttered, as he turned onto his side, bringing his hand to trail lightly over her skin, keeping the words 'this was a mistake' to herself and trying to ignore how over sensitized her skin was to his touch now.

She picked another slightly less cliché sentence, "This won't happen again." she promised, which given their still intimate position, was a big claim and more than a little hypocritical, which he looked completely unconvinced by. That irked her more than anything, because she knew he was right.

"You seem certain Love. Don't tell me I didn't satisfy you, because I am more than willing to give it another go." his eyebrows quirked suggestively and he captured her hand in his, bringing it to his lips to kiss the knuckle of each finger with deliberate intent. "Admit it Emma." He smirked, propping himself up on his elbow and casually toying with her hair "You enjoyed it."

Emma rolled her eyes suppressing the grin that meant her own sense of humor was becoming as warped as his these days. She sat up and trying to put distance between her body and his hand, all it seemed to do was allow him to draw his fingers down her spine. "What do you want me to say." Emma sighed wearily. "It was great, mind blowing, everything we both knew it would be." She glanced back at him seeing the smug expression growing. "Because it was and guess what, it changes nothing." The smug grin receded. "Just because something feels good, doesn't mean it's actually any good for you… I used to smoke, not that you'd have any idea what that is, but trust me, that buzz, the endorphins, not so comforting when you know its slowly poisoning you to death."

"This," he waved at them both "You and me, it's not poisonous." He sounded angry as he stood up, hopping off the table to shrug his leather pants back on aggressively. "Emma. You are determined to make yourself miserable. I won't be helping you out with that Love. I know what I feel. So Neverland is intensifying those feelings... so what. Better to feel this, than nothing. And if you want to kid yourself that there is nothing here, then that's your miserable life sentence, not mine."

"Clearly." Emma muttered, watching him, she didn't even feel uncomfortable sat naked on his table… she should have, any rational person would, which just proved her point, _this_ whatever it was, just wasn't rational, it was a curse, a trick of Neverland, a single lapse in judgment that was now being warped into defining her whole existence.

"Have you ever considered Emma." He tugged his shirt over his head, nailing her with a sharp look that warned her whatever he said next was going to sting, "That maybe you just need to believe that so you have an excuse; because for you there is no way that a simple," he smirked, "charming, Pirate like me could ever get under that armor of yours, unless I somehow tricked you into it."

Emma didn't respond and he huffed, picking up her clothes and handing them to her, before stepping back and crossing his arms expectantly. "That's just the problem," she acknowledged. "You did trick me, this whole place is a trick. Even if I did feel anything for you, I can never trust it because I have no idea where Neverland ends and I begin."

"Then the problem is Neverland." Hook responded firmly as she began to pull on her own clothing, the corseted top was ruined she held it up to him with an accusatory look as he smirked and retrieved one of the plain cotton shirts for her instead.

"We can't exactly help the fact that we're trapped here." She muttered accepting the new clothing without a word and pulling it over her head. Her eyes snapped to his as the memory struck. "We're trapped here." She managed weakly. "Oh god Killian we forgot again. We're supposed to be finding a way home." She jumped down from the table as his hook and hand grasped her biceps, trying to calm her.

"Home." He nodded, "Your home. My revenge." He took a long swallow that she knew from experience was him digesting the unpleasant sensation of a lost memory returning.

"Killian," the use of his name was becoming a bad habit and he pulled her closer into an embrace, the feel of his hook pressed against her spine should have been unnerving, she knew just what he could and had done with it, but right now, it was just an extension of him, and it was comforting. "How can we live like this, everything that matters to us is being stripped away. We can't hold on to anything long enough for it to matter."

"I remember you just fine Love." He caught her chin with his thumb, "_That's_ what matters."

Emma shoved at his chest in frustration, but he didn't even budge, just rocking back on the balls of his feet and letting no space between them. "That's Neverland talking you idiot." She cussed. "That's what this place does, the only memories we keep are of each other, our whole world is reduced to this," she gesticulated between them, "me and you." He looked fine with that assessment which only ticked her off further. "I want more than that." She snarled. "I want a life, memories, friends, family…" her mind clicked again and she felt her whole body almost collapse with the weight of the memory. "Henry." She breathed crushing herself against Hook in the futile effort to stave off the agony of the memory, the knowledge that she'd somehow forgotten him again. The choked sob that tore from her clearly affected him, because his embrace tightened until she was barely able to breathe with her head buried against his chest. "Please Killian." She all but pleaded. "We have to find a way to stop this, a way to hold on to the memories we need to. We have to find a way to leave Neverland."

She felt him nod, beneath his chest his heart was beating strong and calm. "Together. We leave Neverland together. I want the chance to prove that this place had nothing to do with how I feel… or how you feel. Besides, there's a Crocodile there with my name on it."

Emma lifted her chin to meet his gaze, she nodded once pressing her lips to his, because deny it she might, but she liked kissing him; even if he was a revenge driven ass.

Hook ended the kiss, releasing her gently and turning on his heel, the maniacal glint she knew only too well was in his eye as he began to pace, "So. How to leave Neverland?" He posed the question rhetorically and she eased herself back to sit on the edge of the table. "We know that Tink's powder got us to the Enchanted Forest... I think we can safely say we won't be visiting there again anytime soon." His pacing stopped. "People drift _into_ Neverland, they don't drift _out_." He sighed, clearly out of ideas.

Emma paused, feeling another memory stirring at the reminder of the pixie. "Peter Pan."

Hook gave her a look with raised eyebrows. "Another pixie?"

Emma frowned, certain that name meant something, or should mean something to him. "He was a boy, who never wanted to grow up. He stole children away to Neverland to have adventures forever."

"Sounds like a real hero." Hook didn't look impressed… or like he had a clue what she was talking about.

"This is all wrong." Emma drew her fingers through her hair in frustration. "Your Captain Hook, he's Peter Pan, you should know who he is. It's in all the stories, your mortal enemies."

"My mortal enemy is a boy?" Hook looked amused and put out all at once.

"He can fly." Emma shrugged as if that made all the difference.

"So maybe he was just an overgrown pixie after all then."He rubbed his chin in thought, "You said you knew the story?" she nodded, "And these stories are always accurate?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "No I suppose not, they seem to be a lot more twisted, although I suppose it's just as possible that maybe the story just hasn't happened yet."

"And that helps us how?" he was getting snarky. "I think I liked it better when we were hot and sweaty and you were naked in my arms Love, maybe we should get back to that." He approached her with a grin and she pressed her palm against his chest, stopping him.

"Peter Pan used to fly to my world, that's where he found the children to bring back here where they became…"

"The Lost Boys." Hook finished for her excitedly. "Love... you are bloody brilliant." He kissed her lips soundly. "We could do this. Find this Pan, get him to show us where and how he gets to your world."

"He won't tell you anything." Emma pointed out, rolling her eyes at him.

"Why not?" he sounded affronted, "I am perfectly charming, just as you know."

"You're a Pirate." Emma huffed, "He's a ten year old boy that makes you the enemy in his little world." The memories were coming thick and fast now, overwhelming her with the prospect of actually getting home, of escaping this place and its curse. Her lips curved up at the edges as the idea took shape, "No, what you need is an infiltrator... someone he can trust. A motherly figure." Hook matched her grin with a wicked win of his own.

"Why Emma darling, I had no idea you were so devious." He sounded far too proud.

"Not Emma." She corrected him. "Call me Wendy, _darling._" She drawled, his expression letting on that he had no idea she was making a joke, but it didn't matter, she could see the pieces of this particular puzzle falling into place. This was where the story came into it, she would play the part of Wendy, she'd be the mother, she'd give them their medicine, tell them the fairytales she knew now only too well. And in return, he'd teach her how to fly home.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Emma cussed loudly, struggling with the bonds that were holding her pinned to the tree whilst a bunch of angry ten year olds danced around her with bows, arrows and makeshift wooden swords.

"I am not a Pirate!" Emma snapped; the sound of their high pitched hollering starting to grate.

"Your Red Handed Jill... you'd cut our throats in our sleep for your evil Captain Hook!" The annoying blonde with the war paint everywhere all but screeched at her, the sharp end of his wooden sword jabbing at her midsection as if to exaggerate the point.

Emma stared darkly down at him. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Peter would it?" she thought it was a good a question as any, but the kid reacted liked she'd slapped him.

"He's Pan!" the other boys bellowed almost in unison.

The boy himself held the wooden sword to her throat, "There are no names in Neverland, Pirate. We are the Lost Boys."

"Super." Emma muttered, smiling through her teeth at the little brat. "And I'm not a Pirate. I told you, my names Wendy and I'm trying to escape from Pirates."

"That's exactly what a Pirate would say." A pudgier smaller kid pointed out quite astutely.

"And your made up name is?" Emma quirked an eyebrow at him expectantly, which seemed to throw them all momentarily.

"He's Tootles." Pan grinned rakishly, giving Tootles a smug smirk, like he was teasing the boy for something. "And he's a fraidy cat."

Tootles looked startled, before his eyes narrowed like he was accepting the challenge. "If she's a Pirate we should shoot her." He raised his bow and without much more thought shot an arrow straight at her heart.

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Emma woke up, stunned to realise she was actually still alive.

"You're not a Pirate. Pirates don't have magic."

Emma closed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on. "I think I'd rather be dead than deal with this." She muttered, what the hell was she thinking, taking on eight boys, at least that's how many she'd counted, two of which seemed to be identical copies though, so she couldn't be sure.

"What's a Wendy?" he was persistent at least.

"A bird." Emma muttered, imagining how Hook would feel about her being shot with an arrow during this oh so great 'infiltration' plan. That line of thought was a mistake, thinking about Killian just made her chest hurt and her heart race, damn him. Being apart from him was a slow torture worse than the damn sexual tension they'd endured. Every other thought was about him and how much she missed his touch. Pathetic. This was why feeling anything for anyone was a mistake. At least the distance had given her back memories in some form though, she remembered the story of Peter Pan just fine.

Emma sat up, exploring her chest for signs of damage and coming away with nothing.

"How'd you do that?" Pan was right in her face, inches away in fact, clearly he shared the same notion of personal boundaries as Hook... and there she went again, every other damn thought about that stupid Pirate.

Emma stared shrewdly back at him. "Like you said, _magic_." this damn magic thing was getting worse, useful, but not particularly comforting. It had taken them months to track down these little bastards, months of skirmishes and Hook's careful plots that had ended in failure. 'Good always wins'. That's what Henry always said, upside of being apart from Hook, she could actually occasionally remember that she had a son to get back to, who had once told her helpful things like that. Sadly it was working against her now because technically she was on 'team Pirate' which she highly doubted was anyone's definition of 'good'. Ridiculous worlds and their stupid rules, this was why people occasionally rooted for the bad guy, at least then the story might be interesting.

"Why'd Hook make you walk the plank?" the new question confirmed her suspicion that he had a short attention span, apparently the talk of magic and her surviving an arrow to the heart had already been forgotten. He was like a living breathing reflection of Neverland... and she hated Neverland. As for the plank, that had been her genius idea to try and get the Lost Boys attention once they had finally found a location they liked to frequent, that and a few rounds of cannon fire. It seemed to have worked.

"Because he's an ass." Emma sighed looking down her shirt just to confirm that there really wasn't a great big arrow sticking out of it. "He thinks we'd make a great team," she smiled trying for sincere, "unfortunately I don't share his feelings and he's not a man that takes rejection well."

"So... we stole something from him." Pan was giving her a shrewd look, the corner of his mouth curved up into a smile.

"Yes. I suppose you did." Emma told him clearly, manipulation was never her strong point but he was only ten so she figured she had the advantage.

"Excellent." He rubbed his hands together like the maniacal little sociopath she was starting to suspect he was. "So, what shall I do with you? You're a girl. Girls don't come to Neverland, they're much too clever for that."

Emma smirked. "So glad we agree." She imagined most of them told him to bugger off when he came to try and steal them away. A woman always recognises a creep... even if she doesn't admit it to herself.

"Can you _do_ anything?" he looked doubtful.

Emma dredged up every ounce of the Peter Pan story she could remember, mostly what she got was a couple of jumbled films, although she was fairly certain Wendy was supposed to be a storyteller. "I tell stories." He looked supremely unimpressed.

"What sort of stories?"

"All sorts, fairytales, ghost, adventure. Imagine what new games you could play if you knew the stories." Emma leant in conspiratorially. "And just between you and me, the Lost Boys could do with a Leader, a father figure, to keep them in line." It was almost too easy she realised as his expression froze, his calculating little eyes shining.

"I'm the leader, I'm Father!" he pointed accusatorily at her like she was trying to steal it

"Oh of course." Emma conceded. "But if you are going to be a family, to have order, then you will definitely need a mother. Someone to give them medicine when they are sick... or bad." She grinned darkly at him, "Someone to tell the stories, to cook the food, clean your clothes, to tuck you in at night." Ok so she was a lousy cook and if anyone put a knitting needle in her hand she'd probably stab them with it, but he wasn't going to know that.

His eyes widened. "You." He pointed at her, "You will be Mother." Emma suppressed the eye roll. "Well only if you think it's best. Father." She smiled, thinking that maybe school should be added to her to do list.

"Let's go tell the children." He grasped her hand, pulling her up and dragging her through the makeshift cave they seemed to call home towards the sounds of overexcited ten year olds armed with sharp objects... lovely.

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Emma placed her feet carefully mindful of how light sleepers some of the boys were as she made her way out of the clearing and into the forest, keeping her eyes out for Tinkerbell who seemed intent on making her life a misery. She remembered the vindictive little creature from the story and if she hadn't been sure she might need her dust she'd have accidentally stepped on her by now, as it was, she wasn't going to trust a word that came out of her mouth straight into Peter's ear.

"Hook." She hissed when she was certain she was out of ear shot. Of course there was no response. She removed the small mirror from her pocket and held it firmly in front of her, trying to summon up whatever magic was inside of her. This was a trick she and Hook had learned when they'd had to split up whilst they'd been looking for the Lost Boys, separating for short periods had also been a dry run for them & a way of ensuring they both stayed on mission, allowing them to retain the memory of the damn plan. Staring firmly into the mirror she placed her hand palm down over it, pushing every ounce of ill begotten feelings she had for him into the object until her hand was shaking. Finally a ripple shimmered across her own reflection, replacing it with a windowed view into his cabin.

Hook was sat his head lolling back over the top of his chair, legs propped up on the table, maps spread out everywhere, interspersed with flasks of no doubt empty rum. "Hook." Emma snapped directly into the mirror, seeing him bolt up, his hooked hand out, pointing around, until his wits returned and he spun on the ornate mirror that hung in his cabin. The smile that lit up his face made her stomach twist unpleasantly with a stupid desire to smile back widely, the desperate need to touch him, to try and reach through the glass and press her lips to him rose and she tried to quash it, it didn't help, her skin just started to itch, like she was trying to climb out of it.

"Emma." He breathed, his palm going flat against the mirror opposite hers, she could swear she could almost feel it.

"Killian, I don't know how much more of this I can take. I was barely a mother to my own son before all this, now I have eight little brats I'm trying to control. They have knives and fire and bows and arrows... I had to tie two of them to a tree when they tried to burn down the tree house the rest of them were in. This is insane!" he blinked and she took in a breath, trying to calm down.

"Been busy then Love?" he smirked and she couldn't help but smile.

"I miss you." She admitted, wanting to bite her own tongue out just for admitting it, but there it was.

"Now then, was that so hard to admit?" he smirked, like he knew it was the equivalent of pulling teeth for her. "I'll admit this separation has been longer than I'd imagined, you've been gone months Love. Tell me you are close to an answer because I feel like I'm going out of my mind here."

"He's an idiot." Emma bit out, her frustration with the blonde brat in the remnants of a loincloth and leaves boiling over. "And also a power mad little sociopath."

"I take it he isn't growing on you." Hook was clearly finding this amusing.

"Like a parasite." Emma muttered, "I'm playing mother, he's father, thank god his pre-pubescent little brain can't seem to figure out why that frustrates him so damn much."

Hook leant in closer to the mirror. "I had to move the ship." He admitted looking uneasy, "Took us a full two days out to sea, I was so close to storming that little island of theirs to come after you."

Emma closed her eyes as she slid down a tree to land on her ass, sighing deeply. "I'm miserable." She admitted. "I can barely concentrate, I have dreams about you. It feels like I've been torn apart." She admitted mortified that the words were tumbling out of her mouth, more so than she was about the dreams themselves, because telling him was just admitting he'd been right all along, that without him, was agony. "Every other thought is about you. It's driving me insane. I want to tear my skin off in frustration sometimes."

Hook she realised had bowed his head, his reflection so tantalisingly close and yet untouchable. "I know Love. A few of my men have left me. One jumped overboard, was afraid what I'd do to him when he found out he'd stolen rum. I can't hold my temper much longer." He looked apologetic. "I've locked myself in my cabin." He admitted, the idea of it was almost sickening to her, that she'd somehow reduced him to this shell of a man, hiding away in his cabin afraid of himself.

"How long can we keep doing this?" she breathed, seeing the question all over his face, but no answer.

"Does the boy trust you?"

Emma sighed. "As much as a ten year old trusts anyone. He's become very possessive of me, if I had to guess I'd say he has a little crush and doesn't know how to deal with it. Tink's tried to poison me twice, so I guess it's going well enough."

"Then ask him. Tell him you have a son that you want to join you both in Neverland as a Lost Boy. I'll bring the ship back in to the cove and await your signal." He was so matter of fact, so cold, it wasn't the Killian she was used to seeing, it was like every inch of his charm had just bled out of him, and he was just one overexposed raw nerve, with a blade for a hand.

"Killian," she breathed tracing her finger across his face through the reflection.

"Don't." He turned away from the mirror. "I can't do this much longer. Get your answer or I'll have no choice but to come after you." He disappeared and Emma closed her eyes, dropping her hand from the mirror and feeling the magic bleed out of the object, until it showed only her own reflection again.

He was in pain. She was in pain. The tension of being together before had been so bearable in retrospect compared to this fresh agony of separation. But he was coming for her now, he'd told her as much, which meant she had two days to convince Peter to give her the answers she needed, or Hook would force them out of him at the point of a blade.

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"What do you mean you have another son Mother?" Curly grasped her hand tightly dragging her down to his level, his face fierce, out of all of the Lost Boys, this one she liked the best, but it was a little bit like choosing your favourite carnivorous vulture to get bitten by.

"I just mean, I have another son, just like you boys, and I worry about him, he will grow up without me." She felt Nibs take her other hand and she held back the grimace at the stickiness of whatever had been on his palm transferred itself to hers.

"Father will know what to do Mother. He knows everything." Nibs seemed quite sure of it and she admired his simple assertion, his faith, even if it was only because he knew nothing else. It would still be nice to have that kind of belief in someone.

"Yes, but what if Father thinks that we don't need another son." She pressed, trying to get them all on side, knowing full well that the only way to convince Peter would be to somehow make it his idea.

"Can he _do _anything, this new son?" Slightly stalked over, finally getting involved in the conversation.

Emma smiled. "Oh yes." she leant in closer sharing it like a secret with Slightly, "He can find anything."

The boys frowned, Nibs was fractionally brighter than the others, he crossed his arms across his chest thankfully dropping her hand and staring hard at her, "Like a hunter?"

"Or a tracker?" Curly piped up looking hopeful

"Exactly." Emma sighed, relieved that she had got their interest. "He once travelled all across the land, completely alone, to find me." Ok so that wasn't exactly a lie, and they were looking impressed now.

"He'd be an excellent Lost Boy." Nibs declared and the others nodded sharply, Emma suppressed the grin, letting it become a more natural smile.

"Father needs to decide." Emma pointed out.

"Yes let's tell Father." Slightly declared as they all marched off excitedly.

"We need a tracker!" Curly nodded firmly in her direction like it was all their idea and they all disappeared off to convince Peter.

"Idiots." She muttered; her ability to tolerate the constant sensation of being torn in half had faded since seeing Hook in the mirror. The wound was raw now and she desperately needed to scratch it. Only the knowledge that he was edging ever closer to her with every hour that passed was the only thing that kept her sat uneasily in the Lost Boys camp, rather than charging across the island to the cove where his ship would hopefully be waiting now for her signal... how much longer would he wait, he'd said two days, for all she knew, he and his crew might be making their way by foot to them even now. She had to hurry.

"Mother!" Peter declared, startling her as his rousing voice jolted her out of her manic thought of running to Hook, at least for the moment, as she watched the blonde headed boy quite literally fly to hover in front of her. Her mouth opened and closed, momentarily stunned. He really was flying.

"Your flying." She managed stupidly and he stared at her like she had two heads.

"Well of course Mother. The Lost Boys think we need a Tracker, we need to go find one, bring him here to be with us." Emma swallowed. Right.

"I know where you can find a Tracker." She saw the boys heads appear behind him as he hovered, his hands on his hips, waiting impatiently for her with a wide grin on his face, it was strange to see the magic of Neverland in action, especially on their memory, they'd forgotten entirely that it was supposed to be her son, just remembering what was important to them.

"Tell me. And I shall get him!" Peter declared.

"I can't." She apologised, standing up and finding hovering like this, that he was now level with her height. "But I could show you. He's hiding you see, because he doesn't want to grow up." Emma smiled through her teeth, certain that if she ever got out of this, she'd be making sure Henry locked his window at night, she didn't want this little sociopath anywhere near her son.

Peter's grin was radiant and it gave her a twinge of guilt. "Then Mother, you will just have to come with me!" He looked so proud at his idea, "Oh the cleverness of me." Emma froze, staring at him, the phrase was far too surreal as he grasped her hand, dragging her along the ground behind him as he bounced along, like an astronaut on the moon, light as a feather.

"How will we get there, Pan I can't fly." She tugged on his hand, trying to slow him down, she needed to get him to tell her how to do it without actually doing it, she couldn't leave Hook. The idea of leaving him was actually painful, granted she knew that was mostly Neverland's magic acting on her, but it didn't matter, it still bloody hurt. Besides she owed him, and if she was gone, leaving him hear alone to suffer in misery without her... because of this stupid Curse between them, that would just be too cruel. Of course trying to leave him would have been impossible anyway, she simply didn't want to; hadn't spent the last however long it had been...years maybe? All of that with him almost every moment of the day, she couldn't just abandon him now.

Pan stopped, turning back to glance at her confused. "Stardust of course. Here take some of mine." He smiled, shaking his hair and dousing her with the sparkling stuff as it settled all over her skin, until she started to feel like there was air inside of her, she felt light as a feather, like she could jump straight up to the clouds. It was incredible as she leapt, laughing out loud as she landed feather light twenty foot from where she'd been. Pan followed, clearly enjoying her enjoying herself.

"Where do we go Pan?" she asked eagerly, trying to keep the excitement infectious get him to say too much as he landed beside her.

He beamed, taking her hand and pointing her to the sky. "There, we fly out until we're over the sunken city, where the mermaids live."

"Do we need to think about something... happy thoughts?" she pressed as he bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly eager to be gone.

He laughed, "Why Mother, aren't your thoughts always happy?" he was grinning like an idiot and she tried to grin back. No. They weren't. "You just imagine that _other_ place, remember what it was like back there. How _they_ wanted you to grow up... how _they_ left you alone, how everything was cold and dark. It's a bad place. That's why we need to bring the boys here Mother. To save them!"

Emma grasped his hand, her heart pounding. "Thank you Peter." She told him firmly, seeing his expression sour at the use of his name as he turned back ready to cuss at her, but he was too slow to react as she pulled the pouch she'd tucked firmly beneath her shirt out and blew the contents straight into his startled face. He breathed it in his eyes instantly taking on a filmy look as he staggered, the lightness of his step failing as he came back to earth landing heavily against her, catching his unconscious and suddenly quite heavy body firmly.

"Well played Love." Hook's voice startled her and she spun, seeing him emerge from the forest, his stride determined as he approached her. Emma froze, her heart pounding, as she stared at him, the limp boy in her hands fell to the floor forgotten just as Hook reached her and crushed her to him, his mouth finding hers and all but inhaling her.

"I have a plan." She promised her hands running through his hair resisting the urge to tear his clothes from him and press her lips to every inch of flesh she revealed.

"Shut up." He hissed, dragging her head back down so he could kiss her, whilst managing to press every inch of himself into contact with her, he was almost feral she realised as she tried to calm them both.

"We have to focus." She pushed him away. "He won't stay out forever."

"NO." Hook roared, pushing her back against a tree in a disturbingly familiar way.

"Killian." She caught his face in both her hands. "Get a hold of yourself. We're nearly there." Her sharp voice seemed to startle him and he dropped his forehead to hers, breathing heavily, but at least he'd stopped. "It's time to go." She admitted quietly. "We'll be fine there."

"We'll be apart." Hook murmured; he seemed to have lost what little reason he'd started with, clearly being apart from her without the same pre-pubescent distractions she'd had, had been harder for him to keep perspective.

"We'll be ourselves." Emma snapped back, shaking him slightly and trying to get the dashing man she knew back. "Snap out of it. I'm here, your here, we're going to get what we both wanted and..." she sighed admitting it. "And we are going to be there together, in case you hadn't noticed, I waited for him to spill before he flew me off to his secret portal in the sky, so that I could come get you."

Hook smirked. "I'd noticed." He backed off, looking perfectly normal as he stepped over the unconscious Peter Pan, turning back to give her a smug look.

"Did you just play me?" she stared almost surprised, clearly she'd been spending too much time with unschooled simpletons if he could pull one over her so fast.

"No." his sarcasm was ruined mostly by his clear amusement. "But it is lovely to know you feel so strongly about us. I'm taking that as a promise by the way Love."

"Oh shut up." She snapped, "and get his legs. We need to get him on board the ship. I take it your men rounded up the Lost Boys already?" she quirked an eyebrow at him, "Carefully?"

"Why what are you planning on doing with them?" he grasped Peter's ankles as she grabbed him beneath the arms, lifting, apparently he was heavier than he looked and no longer light as a feather.

"They're children. Irritating, half feral, but children, I'm not just going to leave them here." She rolled her eyes as they shuffled the boy along between them.

"And how do you intend to do that Love?"

Emma smiled thinly "Magic."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

"Mother, what are you doing?"

Emma stared at Peter for a full moment, he didn't sound petulant, or challenging, he sounded like a frightened child tied up with his friends at the mercy of Pirates sailing out into mermaid infested waters.

"Yes _Mother_." Hook smirked, "What _are_ you doing?" he was stood arms crossed leaning against the side of the ship, eyeing the children like they were going to bite. Having spent time with them she was certain they probably would... and that he'd need a Tetanus shot he wasn't going to get in Neverland.

"Please don't rile them up, they'll start chanting." Emma muttered, "You really don't want to get them going on 101 bottles of beer on the wall."

Hook's smirk only widened. "And I wonder where they learnt that delightful little diddy from."

"Mother. Please I'm scared." Tootles was nearly close to tears and Emma relented. She knelt down next to him careful to keep out of biting range; she'd not forgotten this was the little brat that had aimed an arrow at her heart and they could all put on the waterworks when they wanted something.

"Look kid. I'm taking you home. So there's nothing to be scared of." Not her most maternal, but then what else was she supposed to say, they couldn't stay here alone, what kind of a mother, or human being would she be if she let them just continue running wild, alone. She'd already had to perform CPR on one of the twins because he'd accidentally drowned... the other boys never had admitted who'd strapped the rocks to him and thrown him in. Or the time when she and Tink had needed to find an antidote to the mushrooms Slightly had ingested. Leaving them here was wrong, taking them away was cruel. Welcome to adulthood. Life sucked, no more so than the crappy decisions you had to make in it.

"Pirate." Peter hissed; looking heartbroken he didn't even seem to have the will to struggle with his ropes anymore. "How could you do this to us Wendy, you were Mother?"

Emma sighed, feeling wretched. "No, I'm someone's mother, but _he's_ not here. He's back there, in that world you're so afraid of that you ran all the way here to this dark little part of the imagination to live out a pointless existence. Never changing, never learning, never experiencing anything real." She caught his chin with her hand, forcing his darkened eyes on hers. "I'm doing you a favour _Peter_." The use of his name made him flinch but she didn't relent. "I was abandoned too. I had no mother, no father, I grew up in hell completely alone, just like you and the Lost Boys." His lips were pressed firmly together but she could feel him shaking, either out of fear, emotion or the simple attempt to tear her head off. "But I had to grow up, I had people that needed me to grow up. You can't stay this way forever... what would be the point?"

"We're happy, leave us alone!" he raged and Emma dropped his chin.

Her patience snapped. "No you're not. You're as miserable as everyone else is in Neverland because that's how you got here, that's the thought you carried with you into this nasty little land; '_you didn't want to be alone'_. He was stony as he stared firmly at anything but her, but she didn't need his confirmation to know the truth.

"There are children there Pan." She conceded slightly, "Lots of them. Parents too, parents who would be happy to take in a lost little boy because the people there, they lost everything that was theirs too." Although she imagined that feral boys with serious abandonment and authority issues were going to be a hard sell anywhere.

"Shut up Pirate." He mumbled, blinking away tears, Emma turned away, she couldn't face the accusatory looks. She'd tucked them into bed, told them stories, bandaged the scrapes. Hell she'd been more of a mother to them than she had ever been to her own son, and she couldn't seem to find it in herself to really care. All she did care about was the idiot Pirate with the stupid smirk stood beside her, gently running his hand up and down her spine.

"I hate Neverland." She hissed with feeling, hearing him chuckle behind her.

"Oh I don't know, it has its moments." He pulled her back lightly against him, letting her draw comfort and strength for the few seconds they had. "We're nearly there Love. Hold your nerve. Besides, I think they're adorable, like wolf cubs, all bark and no bite."

Emma nodded. "Trust me, the barking is enough." She eased out of his grasp, touching him was too difficult right now, just breathing the same air as him seemed to be making everything hazy, she barely remembered where they were sailing too right now.

"Mermaids Love." Hook informed her quietly. "We're here for the sunken city surrounded by mermaids." Emma gave him a look; he knew, damn him for knowing exactly what was going through her head... or what had slipped right out. She turned back, raising her hand to his face and stroking her palm across the stubble before her thumb rose to brush over his lips, why did he have to remember it now, just when she needed him to. He pressed a kiss to her thumb and she withdrew it wearily.

"We don't have to go." He reminded her just as quietly, following her gaze out to where the ruins of the city still rose above the water in places. "Can still turn this ship around, forget about all this, forget about going anywhere. Just stay here, sailing the oceans, together." He sounded sincere she stared into his eyes, trying to understand where he was coming from, but she couldn't see beyond the wall he'd put up in this moment between them. He wanted this to be her decision.

"We do have to go Killian. This place is killing everything that we are supposed to be." She sighed. "It's time to go home. Time to face what this place has made us avoid and allowed us to forget." Hook grasped her hand, kissing her palm before dropping it and stalking towards the wheel, he spun it violently giving her what they needed... direction.

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The water had turned into a squall. Emma clung to the wheel beside Hook as they tried to steer the ship over the central spot.

"This is as close as we're gonna get it Love!" Hook roared over the sound of the waves, clearly this was why Pan had always flown over this area, sailing it was suicide. Emma had to agree. She left the safety of the wheel, stumbling and slipping across the deck and shoving sailors out of her way as she went until she was in front of the soaked and terrified looking Lost Boys.

"Now would be an excellent time for that plan." Hook had joined her as he grasped her wrist, and sunk his hook into the central mast, keeping them both stable as the ship pitched violently to the left.

"We need stardust." Emma shouted back, reaching for Peter, the restrained boy struggled as she grasped him by the shoulder, her hand sweeping through his hair. He was coated in the stuff, whatever it was and whatever he was, it was unique. Emma watched it glisten in her fingers lifting it to her face to stare at the grains as they flashed like sunlight. "Help me." She instructed Hook, shoving his hand into the boys hair, returning it as caked as hers had been. "Run your hand all around the ships edge. Coat it in a thin layer."

"What are you going to do?" he pressed, staring with mild disgust at his now shimmering hand.

"Figure out how to fly this thing." Emma called back, already sprinting up to the helm and rubbing her sparkling hands all over the damn wheel. She half heard Hook muttering something under his breath, but he was doing as she'd instructed, his fingers running featherlight all around the edge trying to keep his balance as the waves attempted to pitch them all once more into the deep.

"My Lady!" Jukes snarled, grabbing the wheel in an attempt to remain upright as he almost crashed into her. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast, we're taking on water."

Emma watched Hook grasp the central mast securing himself with his hook in place as he stared up at her. "Do it!" he roared, she needed no further encouragement. Although instructions would have been useful.

Henry. It was the thought she needed. It was the memory she needed. A thought had send her spiralling into Neverland, cursed; a thought would send her hurtling out, free.

Emma's hands gripped the wheel, pushing every ounce of feeling she had into the image of a boy she only half remembered. The ship creaked and shook, but slowly it rose up out of the water accompanied by the shouts and shrieks of both jubilation and fear.

But with the feelings coursing through her like a freight train, the magic rattling along behind it like some supercharged payload she just wasn't able to keep it on track.

Killian. The thought was like wildfire, and it spread like poison, corrupting whatever the pulsating magic that lived inside of her was, with Neverland's own tainted variety. The ship fell heavily back to the water, sinking down low enough that water rushed over the sides and it bobbed back up like a cork sending men sprawling and clinging on for dear life.

"Emma." Hook grasped her wrist with his hook, his hand coming down over hers on the wheel.

"It's no good." Emma spun, panic beginning to take hold as the sky turned an inky black and lightening struck the water inches away from the ship. "Neverland's not letting us go!"

Hook kissed her hard, his expression fiercer than she had ever remembered seeing it. "It will." He insisted, turning her back to the wheel and placing her hands over the wooden spokes and covering her right with his own. "Think of home Emma of your family."

"I'm trying." She insisted as the lightening struck again, this time hitting the ship square on the front, the fire trying to take hold and only failing because of the soaked wood. They didn't have long.

"Emma listen to me." He lips were pressed against her ear, his body crushing hers to the wheel from behind as he tried to hold her still against the impossible pitching of the ship as it was tossed from wave to wave. They were going to be torn apart or burnt to ashes, there were only two ways this was going to end, she was certain. "Emma!" he bit her ear sharply, drawing her focus back to him and away from the maelstrom gathering speed all around. "This is Neverland's last gasp. You are stronger than it. Your magic is stronger than it, that blasted boy has stardust in his hair... anything is possible, you just have to want it badly enough Love." Emma felt her hand curl tighter against the wheels spoke, flexing beneath his. He wanted her to think of everything that was drifting away with every touch of his skin to hers... it was impossible. The very thing she needed to escape Neverland was the very thing Neverland stole.

"I can't." She almost sobbed, sagging against the wheel as lightening finally struck true, hitting the central mast and setting the sails ablaze, bathing them all in an eerie golden glow that would surely end them. "I can't remember why I want to go there." Tears fell and she curled her hands tighter around the wheel, despair spreading, "I can't remember." She pleaded with him, begging him for something, anything to shake loose the memory.

"You're doing it for love Emma." She felt him press a kiss to the back of her head. "You love your son, your family."

"I love you." Emma bit out the words like they were the poison she'd always feared they would be. The ship was burning now, the fire licking in at them from all sides as the squall tried to suck them under. But Hook was still, a calm in the chaos.

"So take us to a place where we can be together Love." His hooked hand slid around her waist and his hand over hers on the wheel tightened, turning her attention back to the ship, to the stardust... to the magic pulsing through her veins.

The ship rose.

The tempest raged and the fire raced along every inch of the ship the storm wasn't dousing, nature itself doing battle to keep them. But Emma felt like she had launched an anchor out to some distant shore, a bright blazing beacon that was reeling her in. The ship rose higher and higher, until the water and the squall fell away, the fire extinguished on deck as they rose through the soaking clouds. Every inch of the ship protested, Emma could feel the wood bowing, the stress as the ropes frayed, it was like an extension of her now, and she had to hold.

"Second star to the right, and straight on till morning." Emma declared, her eyes fixed on a point she was certain only she could see as she aimed the crumbling vessel for the tear in the very fabric of Neverland itself.

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"What is it, what's happening?" Henry grasped his grandmother's hand tightly, watching with a growing sense of fear as the sky all over Storybrooke began to darken.

"Look, there." David pointed, "There's some sort of electrical storm over the harbour."

"Henry!" Regina's voice startled him and he turned seeing his mother... his _other _mother, as Mary Margaret made him call her, running towards them.

Mary Margaret put her hand out stopping Regina from reaching Henry. "Do you know what's happening, what this is?" he asked her, hoping that she wouldn't lie, he could always tell and he hated it.

Regina gave him a pained look, but kept back, "It's magic, I can feel it."

"It's Emma." Henry told them bluntly, he had never been more certain of anything in his life.

The adults all seemed to pause, each one of them sharing a look before they turned pitying expressions on him. He hated it when they did that to.

"Henry," Mary Margaret spoke first, clutching his hand tightly. "I know how badly you want anything strange that happens in this town to be a sign that your mother's still alive, or that she's coming home. But it's been over a year."

"She _is _alive!" Henry tore his hand out of hers, furious with her, with all of them for giving up so easily. He was twelve, he didn't need to be mollycoddled all the time like some sort of child anymore.

"Henry." David's hand went down on his shoulder, but his tone had that sharp quality he got when he gave an order he expected obeyed. "I believe you, I will never give up on Emma. Never." He leant down so they could meet eyelines, which given as Henry was showing signs of his growth spurt, meant he wouldn't have to do that for very much longer. "And nor will Snow, you know we're still looking for her, still trying everything, but she isn't in the Enchanted Forest anymore. You just have to be patient. We will find her one day."

"You aren't looking right now. Does that look normal to you, it could be her!" he snapped.

Regina sighed heavily coming to stand beside David, "Henry, this is an enchanted town, you can't keep getting your hopes up like this at every sign of magic. Running towards things like _this_," Regina was speaking softly and calmly to him and he hated that it worked far better than when his grandparents tried to calm him down. "It will just end up getting you hurt, and I don't just mean emotionally."

"You would say that," he pointed at her accusingly. "You want Emma to stay gone."

"Henry!" her tone grew sharp and Mary Margaret allowed it when she moved closer and grasped him by the chin, forcing him to look at her. "Don't ever let me hear you say that again. You think I want you to be miserable, to be unhappy like this. If I could bring Emma back to you I would."

"I hate to interrupt this touching moment Dearie's. But there seems to be a ship emerging from a portal in the harbour." Henry turned, his eyes going wide as he took in what Gold had said, he was stood there his cane in his hand, casual as you like but when their gazes met, Henry knew... the little smirk told him everything.

"Mom." Henry bolted, leaving them behind as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him towards the harbour, not caring as he flew past people that attempted to slow him, or stop him as David tried to chase him down. They were all coming, his flight towards the magic that seemed to be tearing apart the dark sky illuminated only by the dangerous arc of electricity seemed to be spurring other people into motion. Ruby appeared beside him, her wolf form easily outstripping him as she kept pace. He heard David yell at her to stop him. "Ruby it's my Mom, I just know it is. Please." He panted, struggling to talk and breath at the same time, but Ruby didn't stop him, she kept pace as they ran down to the dock, his eyes fixed on the impossible sight as a pirate ship, with billowing black sails seemed to be rising from a maelstrom.

The squeal of tires surprised him and he turned just in time to see Gold, Regina and Mary Margaret all pile out of Regina's car and come after him. But Henry wasn't an idiot, he stopped at the harbours edge, watching in open mouthed fascination as the enormous vessel rose through the storm, lightening dancing off its black as night sails. His eyes drew immediately to the helm, to the figure with blonde flowing locks of hair that had to be hers... they just had to be.

David caught up with him, his hand going down hard on his shoulder to stop him doing anything ridiculous like throwing himself into the water in some vain attempt to reach the ship faster.

"My god." Regina was beside him now, her hand on his other shoulder, he felt Mary Margaret behind him, his family, and he didn't care, it wasn't a family unless Emma was there. "Gold, is that ship flying." Regina turned the two of them sharing a guarded look that Henry couldn't read, but he couldn't keep his attention on them, he couldn't take his eyes from the rising ship. It looked beat up, on fire, but it was the most magnificent sight he'd ever seen as the water poured out of it as it began to turn in mid air.

"Look." Mary Margaret pointed, although in Henry's opinion there was so much to watch that he wasn't sure what she was getting at. "The vortex is closing." Henry watched as the water began to grow still and the floating ship, slowly but surely lowered itself back towards the water. Touching down gently, with barely a splash. The storm blew itself out like it had never been there, the dark skies dissipating to reveal the grey dreary sunlight that had been there before as the last rumble of thunder trailed off into the distance.

Everyone held their breath, the silence after the roar of the storm seemed almost deafening.

Then there was a wall of human noise from the ship that startled Henry, the ship drifted into the side of the harbour wall and simply stopped alongside it, perfectly aligned, as he craned his neck, staring at every inch of the ship this new angle revealed. He wanted to get on board the vessel it was so close he could have jumped, but David's and Regina's hands were firm. His eyes scanned every inch of the ship, taking in the sight of the burly weather roughened men with swords who were celebrating. His eyes fell on the small group of children tied up to the central mast and he paused, they seemed somewhere between happy and sad.

But his smile split his face so hard, it actually sort of hurt, as his eyes followed the long haired blonde as she stepped down from the helm and approached the side of the deck, giving him his first look at her face. His breath stopped.

"Mom." He managed weakly. All that faith and belief, and right now with her standing there in front of him, with leather pants, long leather jacket and her very own sword... he couldn't seem to make himself believe she was real. Or that the man stood on deck beside her really had a hook for a hand. His eyes left Emma for just a moment to travel the length of the ship, the name of the vessel emblazoned there undamaged as he took in the tattered remnants of what were clearly black sails.

The _Jolly Roger_.

His mother was home.

And she was a Pirate?

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Thank you very much all of you for your reviews, I'm glad your enjoying the story.

I have Re-uploaded this Chapter for a small edit: I realised Henry was 10 in series 1, likely 11 at the start of s2, I meant to make him 12, so that ~just over a year has passed since Emma went to the Enchanted Forest from Storybrooke's perspective.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Emma watched quietly as Henry and her family waved and hugged, clearly ecstatic to see her, the moment the gang plank was down they'd rush aboard and sweep her up in that same infectious joy... at least she thought they would. But staring back at them, everything she was supposed to feel just wasn't coming, all the memories the pain of being without them, the joy of finding them, it was still so muted, there was no sudden rush of remembrance, just a slow trickle of images.

"Smile Love. Your family expects it." Hook spoke quietly into her ear, a pained smile of his own on his face as he waved, trying for calm assurance and coming just short. Emma examined him closely, her feelings about him were still a convoluted mess, but they were still there, which was more concerning.

"I don't remember them... not the way I should." Emma confessed, seeing his own grim expression confirm hers. "Gold is there." Emma added quietly, expectantly, apparently the man had made more of an impression on her than she'd thought, because she had no problem recognising him.

"I see that." Hook replied, "The crocodile looks less leathery than when I last saw him. More fragile." His smirk was in place but Emma saw right through it now, he was clearly disturbed by whatever was going on inside his own head; if it was anything like hers, she could sympathise.

"You don't remember wanting to kill him... not enough to actually stalk over there and try it, do you?" He gave her a sigh, dropping his head in a moment of defeat.

"It'll come back Love, everything. It has to." He tried to make it sound confident, but it came out more like a plea than anything else.

Emma chose to ignore it focusing instead on catching the young boy that raced up the now lowered gangplank and across the deck to throw himself at her with a plaintive cry of 'Mom'. Emma smiled despite herself, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he crushed himself against her and giving her a face to go with the name that had been reverberating around in her skull.

Henry.

The feeling that had coursed through her as she'd staved off the mermaid, didn't return, but it was definitely more than a muted glow as she pulled him closer, lifting his feet off the floor and trying to absorb every second of this moment hating that one day she'd regret that she hadn't been able to feel what she should in this moment.

"Did you miss me kid?" she smiled as warmly as she could, watching his tears blossom as he smiled broadly back at her.

"I knew you'd make it."Henry replied, as the others reached them, Emma made no move to hug them, or be hugged, she stared at them evenly, hoping to get a message across, Henry she could cope with, but she couldn't fake her way through all of this. She needed time. Space.

She recognised her mother and father. Mary Margaret and David, Snow White and Prince Charming, but the way she left, everything still unsaid between them, unresolved... all she remembered was the frustration, the hurt. These people were strangers to her, friends perhaps, but even then it was so hazy, she couldn't remember specifics... no conversations or shared experiences, just an image here and there.

"Emma." Mary Margaret smiled warmly, hesitantly, clearly she'd picked up on the unspoken undercurrent. "I knew you'd find your way home." Her hesitance faded and she crushed Henry between them as she embraced her. Emma patted her shoulder gently, smiling at David as he offered similar platitudes and assurances, joining his family in the embrace. They were so happy to see her, she just wished she could convey that feeling too, but all she felt was numb... and apart.

"Mother!" Peter's high pitched and slightly panicked voice startled her and her family out of the embrace.

Hook's hand went to her shoulder. "Not to ruin this touching reunion Love. But what do you want to do about the little darlings you kidnapped."

"What?" Mary Margaret's look of concern and apprehension increased, her eyes narrowing as they lingered on Hook's hand, which he hadn't removed from her shoulder. "You kidnapped those children?"

Emma restrained herself from rolling her eyes, but she sorely wanted to, as she smiled thinly back at them. "Kidnapped is such a strong word." She muttered, turning away from them and gently detaching Henry who was still holding onto her like he was worried she'd disappear again if he didn't.

"Emma." Mary Margaret was turning shrill, and she could see Hook hiding his smirk beside her, "Are they tied to the mast?" Right... primary school prim and proper teacher, combining with the over privileged Princess thing; it was bound to grate on her at some point, Emma just wished it wasn't right now.

Emma crossed to stand in front of the boys, sensing Henry close at her heels, although David seemed to have more sense, she watched him out of the corner of her eye clocking the less than savoury characters all around them and keeping a firm grip on Henry's arm. She also noted Regina ungracefully stumbling on board in her heels and business suit, heading straight for them, no doubt to interfere.

Why was it she remembered the bad... but not the good. Her memories of loathing Regina were just fine apparently. Emma also noticed that Gold had mysteriously disappeared, which she thought was wise, Hook might not have remembered the reason for wanting to skin him right now... but she wasn't so certain that not remembering it, would stop him from doing it anyway.

"Snow White, Prince Charming... Henry." She gave him a glance, feeling her lip twitch almost into a snarl as Regina placed her hands firmly on his shoulder, looking around with a haughty expression that she recognised as masking her unease. "I'd like to introduce you to Peter Pan, and the Lost Boys."

They looked impressed and then horrified. "You kidnapped Peter Pan?" Mary Margaret snapped.

"And you're Captain Hook." Henry turned, his expression like a kids in a candy store, one who'd just been given an all access pass. His expression fell slightly as he realised what that meant, he stepped back fractionally towards Regina and away from her. "But Peter Pan's the hero, he's the villain," Henry pointed accusingly at Hook, "Emma, are you a Pirate?" And now she was back to 'Emma' not 'Mom'.

"Mother Wendy." Nibs drew her attention and she sighed wearily, at least she was still a mother to someone.

"Wendy." Regina got in first, her expression mocking. "Aren't you a little old to be playing at fairytales."

Emma glared sideways at her. "Look who's talking Your Majesty." She spat, it was harder than she imagined to let go of her anger for this woman, this witch who'd almost killed her son and refused to remove her evil corruptive talons from him, even now. Regina looked somewhat startled by her outburst, apparently on a ship surrounded by Pirates who were watching them all carefully she wasn't her usual confident self, particularly with their son between them.

Emma returned her attention to the boys, she unsheathed her sword and cut through the ropes holding them to the mast. They didn't move. All accept Peter who shot to his feet charging her, it was made more effective by the small blade he seemed to have stashed somewhere on himself that he now held at her throat.

"Whoa, kid take it easy." David spoke softly, his hands out as if he could ward this attack off.

Emma didn't take her eyes off Peter, dropping her own blade in concession to his threat. Hook moved swiftly behind him, his own blade pointed directly into the base of Peter's skull, making his own threat.

"Why?" Peter snarled, his lip curving into a sneer, as he demanded an answer from her she couldn't really give.

"You let me in, Pan." She told him firmly, not even bothering to keep her tone soft, she wasn't going to convince him he had either made up his mind to kill her or not, the consequences be damned, he wasn't afraid to die himself. "You wanted me to take care of you." She pointed out.

"You tricked me." He bit back, the tip of his blade digging into the skin on her throat.

"Yes. And it doesn't change the fact that you were glad I did. You needed me. You liked to pretend that you were King of Neverland, King of _not_ caring. But you wanted someone to make it better, to make you feel like you were worth a damn, rather than the discarded unwanted child you really were."

"Liar!" he roared and Emma winced as the blade cut deeper, but so did Peter, the tip of Hook's blade clearly making an impression.

"Easy now Lad, wouldn't want to have an accident now would we?" Hook was back to his old charm oozing self, accept that she wasn't as fooled by it as she once was, he was on edge, the threat was real.

"Pan." Emma snapped, drawing the boys attention back to her, and distracting him from the movement all around with his chosen name, particularly the frightened face of her actual son. "You trusted me. That wasn't wrong. You wanted me to help you, because deep down you knew I could. This _is_ me helping you."

"You're a Pirate. You're with him!" Peter snapped, indicating Hook with a flick of his head. "Why should I trust you?"

Emma rolled her eyes, losing patience. "Can you fly?" Everyone seemed thrown by that question, even Peter.

"Emma, maybe now isn't the best time to…" Mary Margaret tried and Emma cut her off with a look, now wasn't the time for family bonding.

"Try it." Emma turned her attention back to Peter, staring him down in challenge, he frowned, looking uneasy and she smirked. "You can't can you?"

"What did you do to me?" he accused, tears forming, but the blade waivered and Emma moved, sliding it out of his hand and grasping him by the wrists, forcing him to drop it with a sharp twist.

"Magic works differently here," she explained. "You might have come to this world collecting kids to bring back and join your merry little band of miscreants, but in this town, you're powerless. Which means that for once, you get to be just a regular kid." Emma dragged him in close, sensing weakness, "And regular kids do what grownups tell them, or they get spanked."

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Emma rubbed her temples, feeling a migraine coming on. The Lost Boys had been surprisingly easy to dump on the nuns...fairies, whatever they really were. They'd actually cooed over them with some noble idea about getting them re-socialised. Peter was another story, which was why she was standing outside Geppetto's workshop with a hopeful smile and a mostly feral child she'd forced into modern clothing and who's hair she'd attempted to comb almost losing a finger in the process.

"You're serious?" Geppetto stared at her, hands on his hips. "Sheriff Swan... Princess." He corrected himself, "I understand that you think you are trying to help this boy, but my wife and I... we are too old to take in a child."

Emma sighed, pushing Peter forward. "He's good with his hands. He can help around the workshop... and since you lied and cheated my parents out of an extra seat to this crazy world, leaving me in the hands of a seven year old boy with the moral compass of a wandering salesman, I figure you owe me."

Geppetto looked guilty, but hardly resigned. "That is unfair."

"So was leaving a child with that kind of responsibility. Sadly for you, that ship has sailed, your little wooden boy is fully grown; that leaves you one son down." Emma smiled thinly, pushing Peter closer towards him again. "He's every bit as screwed up and morally bankrupt as the one you sent away."

"To save him!" Geppetto shouted, angry now. It didn't faze her.

Emma shoved Peter a little closer, it was amazing how accommodating he was being now that his other little friends had practically jumped at the chance of a normal life. "Well guess what now you get to save another... this one's even mostly a _real boy_."

"You ask too much." Geppetto sighed, but he had stepped forward and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Well it was you or the Evil Queen." Emma snapped, arms crossed, she'd already won, this posturing was just wasting both of their time and making Peter feel worse. "Look he's had his shots, he's house trained... mostly. Just don't give him anything sharp and pointy and maybe think about keeping him away from other kids for a little while, it tends to bring out the Dictator in him."

Geppetto nodded, resigned. "Very well. I will take him." Peter actually had the nerve to stick his tongue out at her, which she took as her cue to leave.

Forcing other people to clean up her mess wasn't exactly her style, but she was still a little out of whack. But then two days spent avoiding her family and Hook was enough to make anyone tetchy. At the thought of Hook she glanced down the street to the harbour where the Jolly Roger was docked, he'd graciously decided to stay on board with his crew whilst people came to appreciate their presence and give his men time to acclimatise, and start learning about the modern world they'd been thrust into because of her... more guilt, joy. Personally she thought the fishery was the best option, that or the mines. Something where they could avoid the majority of the female population of Storybrooke.

David was waiting at her car, leaning against it, smiling quietly at her like she was the light of his life. "So are you planning on avoiding us forever?"

Emma stopped in front of him. Arms crossed, this was a confrontation she'd tried to avoid, calling her on it wasn't improving her mood any, which had been downright miserable since she'd stepped off the ship to a chorus of disagreement from her family about the way she was handling the Lost Boys... and the Pirates... and Henry, although that last one had just been Regina.

"I don't know, are you planning on following me everywhere; makes it harder to avoid you if you are."

David was trying for patience, she could tell. But the strain was starting to show around his eyes, he obviously wanted to take her to task, but he didn't quite dare yet, clearly he was struggling to step into the daddy role... the Prince role didn't fit either given as technically in this world she outranked him as Sheriff. It had certainly been awkward when he'd pinned the badge back on her with that she could only assume was pride. Personally she thought returning her job to her might have been a little premature, she wasn't even so sure she was on the side of the white hats anymore.

"Emma, I know you've been through a lot, and that you've been gone... a while." He trailed off at her look, neither of them mentioning the disturbing fact that a year might have passed in Storybrooke, but in Neverland, it had to have been closer to three; at least that was Hook and his crews best guess; and they were used to tracking the passing... or not passing of time in that god forsaken land. "Your mother misses you." He admitted looking guilty, clearly Mary Margaret hadn't wanted him to give her the guilt trip, but he'd realised he'd need to try it anyway. "I know we've never had much of a chance to be parents to you, but you were at least friends with Snow before." he seemed flustered, "I mean you lived together, shared your lives, your days, when you didn't return from the Enchanted Forest, she was heartbroken."

"And she found a surrogate kid in her grandson." Emma bit back, the real cause of her irritation rising. "And of course, she took to mothering him better than his own mother. She even got Regina to tow the line with him." Ok so now she just sounded bitter, but damn it she didn't want to come back to _this_, she didn't want to have been missing long enough for things to change so much. Add to that her memories were still not entirely intact which was just confusing the issue.

"Emma, you can't possibly be jealous of your own mother?" he asked in disbelief, moving forward as if to hug her; causing her to take a very deliberate step back her hand out to ward him off, she didn't know why it was that she had such an aversion to such a simple gesture, but she feared what she might feel if she actually let him embrace her. Her wall might just crumble and right now that wall was the only thing that was keeping her upright.

"I need time. David." She emphasised his name, calling him Dad was never going to sit right; it was also something he hadn't earned yet, maybe never would.

"Emma." He looked desperately like he wanted to fix this chasm between them and didn't have the faintest idea of how to do it. "Please don't push us away."

"I'm not. Not for good, just for a little while. Please, I'm asking." She all but pleaded, and it worked she saw the way he seemed to crumple, finally giving her access to the car and her escape. Emma wrenched open the car door and slammed it, refusing to look at his face; she didn't need to see the look of heartbroken disappointment she knew would be there.

"We'll still be here Emma, waiting, because we're family, family doesn't give up on each other."

Emma drove off without a word, gritting her teeth against the desire to either say something incredibly hurtful, or to simply give in. So it was a surprise to find that she'd driven herself down to the harbour without actually deciding on it. Of course the fact that her apartment was out of the question wasn't helping matters, given as it was also Mary Margaret, David's and Henry's apartment. She'd yet to encounter the problem of sleeping somewhere; she'd been too busy trying to sort her mess out to bother with things like sleep, which probably wasn't helping her mood any. She was tired and miserable. And for some reason her brain had decided that the perfect way to remedy that was to bring her to the one person guaranteed to make her more miserable.

There was a rap against the window and Emma glared soundly out at it the only person she knew would be standing there, his hook on the glass.

"Go away." Emma snapped, dropping her forehead to the steering wheel and wishing she could actually get a minutes peace. Why was everything so complicated back in the real world?

"Your tired Love and I have a bed your quite familiar with." His charm was at a minimum, which she appreciated.

"I'll sleep in the car." Emma muttered, wishing she meant it, and wishing he'd buy it for even a moment.

Hook pulled open the car door and held his hand out to her, Emma took it reluctantly letting him pull her out, he tried to wrap his arms around her and she slipped out of his grasp with a skill she'd honed through apparently years of practice. "I take it your offer isn't entirely altruistic."

"And I take it your still in denial Love." Hook smiled darkly at her.

"I'm not in denial about anything."

"Oh no." he bit out sarcastically. "The fact that you've avoided being within a foot of me since you got here has nothing to do with that little confession of yours." He smirked, letting her know that he really had heard exactly what she'd declared the day they'd escaped Neverland. "Or the fact that being here hasn't changed a damn thing... has it?" he challenged.

Emma chose not to answer, it was simpler, as she allowed him to take her arm and lead her back on board the ship she unfortunately knew only too well.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Emma awoke to the shrill sound of someone shouting her name... insistently, as she buried her face further into the sheets.

A warm hand slid down her lower back reminding her of her less than stellar decision making skills last night. "Mother's calling Love."

Emma groaned, she thought she recognised the tone from somewhere... her repressed adolescence maybe.

"Oh God." She muttered. "I think I'm in a nightmare."

Hook sat up on his elbows cocking his head and listening to the sound of a woman who was clearly not taking no for an answer on deck. "She's certainly persistent."

Emma sat up and groped beside the bed for the clothing she'd abandoned last night, shoving it on with all the care of someone who was attempting to stop her mother from seeing her in the buff, lying in bed with the _bad boy_ she'd already distinctly told her not to get involved with.

"Get dressed." Emma muttered, throwing his leather pants at him. "And remind me to stop by a store and get you jeans, because in this world, we look like we're in an 80's punk band... or a renaissance fair, neither of which is good."

Hook gave her an amused look, but he wasn't pulling the clothes on, just watching her. "I'm perfectly happy here Love."

"Well I'm not, she's coming through the door any second to force us to have the conversation she's been trying to have with me since I broke this damn curse. I'd like you dressed for it."

"Her issues aren't mine Love." He smirked, but it had taken on a more dangerous quality and she paused watching him.

"You're scheming." She accused, his poker face was perfect as usual, not even a flicker.

"Waiting." He corrected.

"For?" she pressed, hearing the angry rant from above getting closer.

"Permission."

Emma stopped mid movement, her mouth opening in mild surprise. "Our deal?" she realised quietly, "You're honouring the deal we made before... everything?" her shock was real, she knew this man, but this particular character quirk was a twist, even for him. "You..." she couldn't contain the sarcasm, "Your actually telling me that Captain Hook is risking his chance of rending his crocodile limb from limb, out of what, a sense of honour?"

His expression was indecipherable as he stood, inches from her. "Honour... no, not particularly. Just a promise to a lady."

Emma smirked. "That is being honourable... dumb ass."

He shrugged. "Then I suppose I must confess to a noble streak."

"Bull." Emma shook her head, not buying it for one minute. "You got your memory back, and now that you've seen how this world works all your plans have crumbled around your ass and you have no idea how to deal with your re-magical Crocodile."

"Emma!" Mary Margaret threw open the door, her startled cry, turning into one of horror as she abruptly covered her eyes with one hand at the sight of Captain Hook, naked as the day he was born. "Oh my god." She whispered quietly, the prim and proper school teacher winning out for a moment before the furious mother and Queen reared her head. Her hand dropped from her eyes and her expression twisted into something unpleasant.

Emma cut off the scathing remark she knew was coming, "And I think that's our cue to leave. Mary Margaret, how about breakfast, I'm starved." Emma spun, stalking towards her mother and grasping her arm, physically dragging her out of the room before the two of them tried to claw each other's eyes out. Or worse, talk about her.

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Emma took a long sip of the hot chocolate, mostly as a way of avoiding Mary Margaret's question for another minute.

"Emma, stop avoiding." Apparently she wasn't as subtle as she'd thought; Mary Margaret was glaring opposite her. "I know that I can't tell you what to do... I'm 28 years too late for that, but we were friends once and what you're doing with Hook..."

"Is complicated." Emma admitted taking a huge mouthful of Granny's best burger with all the trimmings and almost moaning out loud, "Oh wow, that is good." Emma spoke around the mouthful guiltily, "You have no idea how much I've missed junk food, the ships cook tried to make me pizza once... total disaster, best I got was burnt bread."

"He's a pirate Emma, being here in this world doesn't change that..."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Mary Margaret, believe it or not, not every girl gets a Prince."

Mary Margaret's hand shot out and grasped hers, the look of desperation and exasperation clear. "Emma please you're not taking this seriously."

"No, I'm not. Because I really don't want to have this conversation. Which I made quite clear to David when he accosted me at my car."

"He's your father, Emma. And we aren't going to go away, we're worried about you. Henry..."

"Don't bring the kid into this." Emma snapped pointing her fork at Mary Margaret angrily.

"You haven't even been round to see him since you got back."

"I saw him." Emma retorted, guilt and irritation blooming.

"On the ship, yes. But since. He missed you every minute of every day, and not once did he ever give up faith that you'd find your way back to him. He loves you."

"And I love him." Emma bit out, feeling tears sting her eyes. "More than you realise. Which is why I'm staying away."

"How is staying away helping either of you?" Mary Margaret pressed, reaching for her hand again.

"Because, I'm not a good person." Emma bit her lip, there, she'd said it. "I never was. Not as a kid... or a teenager, I landed myself in prison, I gave a kid away because I couldn't stand the idea of someone relying on me."

"You gave him away to give him his best chance." Mary Margaret's grip was vice like over hers now, like her just saying the words would somehow make it true.

"I wanted to believe that. I wanted him to believe that. But it's not true. I gave him away because I was selfish and scared. And coming back here, all I did was tear him away from his home, from a mother... who whilst being a conniving bitch, loved him." Mary Margaret opened her mouth as if to argue so Emma ploughed right on, "And I'm doing it again. Henry is better off with you and David. You've been his parents for a whole year, and guess what, you're better at it than I will ever be. Because deep down I'm still as selfish and as scared as I was back then."

"Emma." Mary Margaret's eyes were shining, which forced Emma to blink away her own tears. "You can't possibly believe that?"

Emma stared long and hard at the woman that for better or worse, would always think the best of her; and she hated her for it. Emma stood, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible, as quickly as possible. "You want to do what's best for me, what's best for Henry. Go be the mother you always wanted to be; just be it to him. And leave me the hell out of it!"

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Emma found Hook on the roof of the building opposite Gold's pawn shop, he had a telescope in his hand so she was fairly sure what he'd been doing. The fact that she'd known where he was, was something she didn't want to think on especially hard. She sat down on the roof beside him, crossing her ankles and staring trying to see what was so interesting about the window front of the store.

"Breakfast went well I take it."

Emma rolled her eyes, the man was incapable of saying anything without a tone, at least he'd finally put some clothes on she noticed... _pity_.

"Still pretending that you're up here hiding from Gold because of a promise that we both know you were never really going to keep?" she bit back.

"Still running away from the family you were so desperate to get back to?" That one stung.

"Touché." Emma murmured, keeping her gaze averted pretending Gold's apparently closed shop held any interest to her in this moment.

"The boy came to the ship looking for you." Hook told her after a few moments silence, she noticed he didn't call Henry 'her son', he was just 'the boy'. She tried not to read too much into that, particularly when he was examining her waiting for her expression to give away whatever she was thinking.

"I take it you entertained him?" Emma quirked an eyebrow questioningly.

Hook shrugged. "He's a fairly untrusting soul," he gave her a look that was entirely judgemental, "Just like his mother."

Emma smirked. "Smart too, if he knows better than to trust a word out of your mouth."

"You wound me Love." Hook teased, his hand over his heart.

"No, I just know you Killian." She sighed, the pretence petering out as the complicated tangle that their hearts were in won out.

Killian gave her a look that she struggled to interpret. "And I thought I knew you love, turns out the woman who quite literally sailed through hell and high water on just the faintest memory of her son... doesn't know what she wants at all."

Emma turned away from him, when he started to make sense, it was never a good sign. "In case you forgot Killian. That memory failed me in the end. It wasn't enough."

"And yet somehow, _I_ was?" he smirked and she cringed internally, her expression clearly speaking volumes. "Thought as much." He sounded less than amused; she'd have gone so far as to say hurt. "In the cold light of day Emma... you want to be alone, because it's what you know. You just don't like to admit it to yourself, so you create this fantasy in your mind of what would make you happy. Only you got it. And somehow it doesn't match up to all those expectations spent as a lonely abandoned lost child." He shook his head derisively at her almost like he pitied her, Emma was so stunned at this sudden lashing that she could do nothing but stare at him. His charm had bled out of him as he met her gaze unflinchingly... she had most definitely managed to hurt him somehow.

"You have no idea what you want Princess. Even if it's staring you in the face"

He turned away from her and Emma felt herself startled into action, she didn't want him to look at her that way, didn't want anyone to actually _pity_ her. Her open palm connected with his cheek soundly and he rocked back slightly at her slap, but his gaze was unwavering, unapologetic. Emma curled that same hand around the back of his head and tugged him forward until their lips crashed together, his resistance was clear as was his anger with her, with their situation, they'd fought to get here and yet somehow she knew they both wanted to be back on the boat, sailing out into misadventure and free to blame Neverland for everything that was building between them.

He pulled away first, giving her a shrewd look, "Careful what you wish for Princess. You can't blame Neverland anymore."

Her thoughts exactly as she watched him stalk away, hopping down from the roof with easy grace and sauntering away, back to his ship... or the local bar, whichever was easier no doubt. Not that she blamed him, drowning her sorrows seemed like a solid option at this point, she guessed she had raging alcoholism to add to her list of things Neverland had bought out in her, or maybe that had just been Hook and his men's influence.

Emma sat back on the roof, watching the world go by beneath her. She heard the sounds, light as a feather against the roof tiles and wasn't entirely surprised, but not exactly pleased to find Peter sitting down beside her, cross legged, staring at Gold's shop like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Pan." She acknowledged.

"Mother." He replied, wielding the word like the weapon he'd clearly realised it was as he cocked his head, giving her a knowing smirk, which only hinted at the mischief she knew he was capable of and finding it strangely endearing.

"Go bother Hook. I'm busy." She bit out, she didn't want Peter Pan of all people to see her this low right now.

Peter shook his head, "Your hiding. From this world you said was so great that you dragged us all here at sword point."

"Observant. Now go away."

"Won't, this is a free country apparently, can do what I like. Just like always." He smirked and she bit her lip in irritation, resisting the urge to clip his ear.

"We also have guns here, and the right to use them, so go away before I'm tempted to." She bit back and he laughed lightly, surprising her.

"Nah, you like me too much to shoot me. The old man you stuck me with thought so too. Told me to give you a break, turns out you didn't lie about being abandoned... so I guess there's that."

Emma looked sideways at him, he sounded... older, more normal. She didn't want to think what it was exactly Neverland had done to each of them, to turn him into the little sociopathic monster she knew he could be, because it just made her wonder exactly what it had done to her.

"You avoiding your son Mother?" he pointed out shrewdly, he'd always been bright, now without the mind addling effects of Neverland it was unnerving clear just how observant he was too.

Emma rolled her eyes. "You're not my son." She reminded him, wishing it didn't sound so callous; it was harder when he was less 'irritating dictator' and more 'damaged, observant child'.

"Nope. But that snotty kid with the nice outfit and more family than any one person deserves is."

Emma opened and closed her mouth, observing Peter closely, there was definite bitterness there. "I'm sorry." She told him firmly. "I should have left you in Neverland, I wasn't thinking straight, it was that place, it twists everything up."

Peter nodded. "Nah you were right, I'd been there too long. I don't remember anything but there, I remember I wasn't always like this though," he admitted, seeing her confusion he shook his head, the sparkling dust was still there, still shining. "I think Neverland made me like this. There were lots of boys there once. I bought them all there. Then they weren't there and I'd have to go find more." He bowed his head. "Geppetto says I'm not bad. Not if I feel sorry about it."

Emma smiled thinly. "But you don't, do you. Feel sorry about it?"

Peter smirked. "Nope." He shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. "Guess that's the one good thing about there, has a way of making you not care. Stay there long enough, I guess it's permanent."

Emma nodded. "I thought we could just come back, slot into life here like it never happened." It was surprisingly easy to talk to him, particularly when he was making so much sense for once.

"They closed the window Mother." He gave her a shrewd look. "They always do in the end, shut us out, forget and move on." Emma recalled the darker parts of the fairytale and felt a shiver run down her spine, that was how he'd known, when a Lost Boy was truly lost, when the family closed the window on him.

"What do you want Peter." She asked, realising that he was clearly here for a reason, Pan never did anything without some reason even if it did only make sense to him.

"Saying goodbye Mother."

Emma paused, "Goodbye?"

"Thank you I guess. For trying." He admitted with a shrug. "But I don't belong here."

Emma grasped his wrist as he stood. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He stared back down at her almost pityingly. "You were right about this place, there's magic here, just different, took me a little while to get the hang of it."

"A while? It's barely been three days." she managed weakly, seeing the stardust shining all over his skin, like it was embedded there, catching the light as the sun danced over him.

Pan laughed gently. "Yeah, but I'm _magic_ mother. I figure that's why Neverland chose me. It needs me you see, like I need it."

His feet rose off the floor.

"Wait." She grasped onto his wrist, not willing to let him go like this and she couldn't even say why, other than the sickening feeling that it was wrong, that he was compelled somehow by some weird twist of fate.

Pan hovered in front of her, his hand went out and he grasped a handful of her hair loosely, bringing it in front of her face. "You stayed too long Mother and Neverland left its mark... because you're magic too." Emma stared transfixed at the stardust glinting clearly now in her blonde hair. The shock of it caused her to drop his wrist and he darted up out of her reach.

"Pan, don't go, don't do this, give yourself a chance to be normal!" she called after him.

She heard his boisterous laughter as he stared his eyes fixed heavenward. "Who wants to be normal Mother!"

"Please!" she all but screamed at him, not caring that people were staring up at them, clearly becoming aware of the flying boy and the mad woman screaming on the rooftops above them.

Peter vanished into the clouds, but she could hear his voice, ringing in her head, clear as a bell. "I'll be waiting Mother, Second Star to the Right, and Straight on till Morning!"

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Authors Note: Sorry it's taken so long, I started a new job and things sort of took priority, I also was a little uninspired with the events unfolding in the real OUAT which killed my muse a bit. I still have hope for this ship there though, nothing like redemption for love stories right? Anyway I can dream. I'll try and update and finish this story off. Thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed and PM'd and generally nagged me back into this, it is appreciated as I hate to leave something unfinished.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Emma put one heavy foot in front of the other, the rain was coming down hard and she was drenched to the core, she lifted her head taking in the billowing sails of her destination with mild apprehension.

As she stepped on board, Hook was waiting, his arms folded, leaning against the centre mast, as soaked through as she was. His dark eyes were hooded but she could read his surprise as he arched an eyebrow imperiously at her.

"Can't say I expected to see you tonight Love, not after the way we left things on that roof top." He admitted, pushing off the mast and approaching her, she'd like to say cautiously, but he never did anything cautiously.

Emma stared at him trying to hide the turmoil Pan had awakened inside of her, it was one thing to suspect you were screwed up, it was quite another to have a child point it out so blatantly. "Funny thing." She started, surprising them both at the shake in her voice, as he stepped closer, crowding her personal space in a way that was uniquely him. "It turns out this is the closest place I have to a home," she shrugged.

Hook didn't blink, just stared at her with cool appraisal, whatever surprise he'd felt earlier he was schooling his features into blankness now.

"Couldn't face the family brood in that little apartment they're all cozied up in?" his tone was biting even if his face wasn't betraying his anger and she tried not to feel the internal flinch. "I hear they even have the bitch Queen over for tea once a week." He continued, and Emma felt the knot in her stomach tighten.

She reached out and grasped the front of his shirt, pulling him inches from her face.

"Stop it." She hissed, desperate to stop him saying something she couldn't forgive. "I get it. You called it, I'm a coward and I can't face them!" Their breaths intermingled in the cold air and she repressed the urge to crush him closer.

Hook sighed, his fingers brushing her rain soaked cheek. "You've never been a coward." He admitted, and it was her turn to be surprised. "You just don't know how to recognise a good thing when you see it."

"Like you?" she couldn't keep the sarcasm out of that.

He smirked. "Oh you always recognised _that_." He pushed her wet bangs out of her face, sliding his hook around her waist. "You just don't like admitting you have a thing for Pirates."

Emma felt herself wilt, everything between them was always so charged, so filled with easy banter that they never actually managed to talk about anything that mattered. It worked for them. Right up until he'd changed the rules on her on that rooftop. The idea that she could actually _hurt_ him was new.

"Do you love me Killian?" she pressed, forcing him to meet her gaze, if he could break the rules of their relationship, such as it was, so could she.

He paused, examining her thoroughly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Now wouldn't that be foolish." He sighed, pulling her with him. "Let's get inside Love, before we catch our deaths out here."

Emma let him lead her down to their cabin, trying to ignore the fact that he hadn't so much as refused to answer her question, as sidestep it. Not that she needed the words. He'd told her as much on that rooftop; the mere fact that away from Neverland she had the power to hurt him was answer enough.

Neverland. Emma curled her hand tighter around his arm as he closed the cabin door soundly, looking as resigned as she felt. "Killian." She tried and he gave her a look that suggested she push him no further tonight. But she had to ask.

"If you see me slipping..." He frowned, taken aback by the sudden line of questioning.

"Slipping into what Love?" he eased forward, suggestion back in his dancing tone as he gripped her waist, some of the charm that was so innately him, slipping back.

"Into Neverland." She blurted out and he blinked. "You'll stop me right?" she pressed hating the desperation in her voice.

He dropped her waist. "I don't..." Emma raised her hair, even soaked through the stardust dancing through it was obvious when you knew what you were seeing; she watched comprehension dawn across his features and settle uneasily there.

"Pan's gone." Emma explained, "Neverland... it pulled him back, like he was _fated_ to be there." She felt her expression twist uneasily, as her voice broke "I won't go back Killian; I won't become like him."

Hook moved, his arms wrapping around her tightly as he lowered her head to his chest, rocking her gently, "Shhh." He whispered into her hair; she hadn't even realised she was sobbing.

"You're not going anywhere Princess." He soothed, and she could feel the strength of his conviction wrapping itself around her, as if by sheer force of will he could stand between her and the pull of Neverland.

"What if I don't have a choice? My magic..." Hook cut her off sharply.

"There's always a choice." He intoned, brushing his fingers through her wet hair as if he was trying to brush the stardust out of it himself. "We'll deal with this magic thing of yours the way we always have."

Emma pulled back, staring at him. "By ignoring it?"

He rolled his eyes. "You ignored it," he reminded her sharply, "I treated it like the wild animal it is; with all due caution."

"Gold is the only one who can help me control my magic. If he even would, I already owe him a favour, I'm not making any more deals with him." Emma pointed out sharply.

"As well you shouldn't." He muttered, "Besides, Rumple makes a deal with you over my dead body." The bite returned to his voice at the mention of his Crocodile and she regretted reminding him. "Besides he isn't the only one in town with a vested interest in your magic and more than a little of their own."

Emma eyed him darkly. "And I'll make a deal with Regina over _my_ dead body."

Hook smirked. "Touché." He pulled her back into his chest, the wet material clinging to him deliciously. "There are the fairies." He added seeing her frown, her experiences with Tinkerbell hadn't exactly endeared their species to her, however distant a cousin they claimed to be.

It would have to be Regina. She knew it, he knew it. But he didn't press, it was one of the things she realised she admired about him, his ability to know when _not_ to open his mouth.

As his lips descended over her neck and gently began to bring feeling back into her soaked and frozen body she realised it was just one of many things she admired about him. She'd asked him if he loved her, she didn't quite dare turn her question inward, it was enough that she needed him, wanted him for now. Wasn't it?

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There wasn't that much that surprised Emma these days, but Regina inquiring politely if she might have a few words with her whilst she waited on deck, trying not to appear ruffled by Jukes, was one of them. It was almost like she'd stopped by to ask her out to play... curiouser and curiouser.

"Regina." Emma smiled thinly stepping up on to the deck. "What a pleasure. And how may I be of assistance this fine morning?" Jukes snorted and turned away, giving them whatever privacy the deck of the ship offered with a bunch of sailors scattered around trying to look inconspicuous as they slept off last night's rum.

Regina eyed them all uneasily, Emma knew she was trying not to use magic, she'd at least learnt that much about what had been going on in her absence. Something about it being the root of her evil and all that. She could sympathise, her experiences with magic felt more like it was taking over her rather than her controlling it.

"Miss Swan, perhaps we could go somewhere else and talk." Regina's tone was as oily as ever as she observed the ship with no small amount of disdain, which Emma took oddly personally.

Emma crossed her arms, hearing Hook emerge from the lower decks and make his way up to the helm to pretend to talk to Jukes, her eyeline followed him momentarily distracted.

"Am I boring you Miss Swan?"

Emma rolled her eyes back onto Regina. "Constantly." She replied smiling thinly at the other woman. "And it's Sheriff Swan."

"Well now that brings me to my reason for being here." Her smile was just as thin. "You seem to be in dereliction of duty Miss Swan, and to be perfectly honest, your father has been fulfilling the role quite admirably in your absence. There was even an election." Her expression was clearly satisfied as Emma digested that unpleasant bit of news. "The people of this town are more than happy with their current Sheriff. However I hear there is a Deputy spot he's been looking to fill."

Emma sighed stepping closer to her aware she was smiling through her teeth. "Is that it Regina, you came here to put me in place? Consider it done. You all got on just fine without me. I get it. Now get off the ship."It cost her more than she thought to put her armour back on after Hook and Pan had so effectively stripped it yesterday, some of Regina's pointed barbs got through.

Regina hesitated, Emma saw the conflict clearly, apparently Emma had been mistaken, jerking her around hadn't been the only reason she was here; it had just been an added bonus. "Oh for heaven's sake Regina, spit it out." Emma snarled, wanting this conversation and this godforsaken woman out of here.

Regina smiled; it was full of self satisfaction "Henry asked me to speak with you."

Emma felt her mouth fall slack slightly. "He _asked_ you?" she couldn't help but let that sound a little snide and more than a little disbelieving.

"Yes well," Regina replied with as much dignity as possible, "Mary Margaret, David and I have come to something of an agreement where Henry is concerned." Her nose rose fractionally as she said that, like she was daring Emma to comment.

"So I hear." Emma muttered. "How nice for you." Regina seemed thrown by her antagonism which just proved how short people's memories were in Storybrooke, not so long ago she'd have happily strung this woman up for what she'd done, however inadvertently to Henry; her time spent in Neverland with Pirates hadn't mellowed her any. She swallowed, her dark thoughts were not a line she wanted to go down, not here, it took some effort to steer the uncomfortable conversation back on track "And... what did he want you to ask me?"

"For you to come to dinner with the family tonight." It was clearly like pulling teeth for Regina as well, but she asked it anyway, which Emma had to admire.

Emma couldn't help but bark out a laugh that was anything but amused. "I'd like to, I really would, but I think that would just be painful all round. If Henry wants to see me, we'll start slow, after all me coming back into his life got all twisted up with the curse breaking and Operation Cobra, we never had much time for normal."

"Emma, you're being ridiculous!" Regina snapped, cutting her off. "_Our_ son, wants to see you." Quite a concession on her part there Emma noted. "Think of Henry, for once, see things from his perspective, the Curse broke and within 24hours he'd lost his adopted mother and his biological mother in one fell swoop. He's been traumatised enough." Her hands were on her hips, and Emma felt her hackles rise at the chastising. "I will not stand here and listen to you behaving like a spoilt brat Miss Swan, just because things haven't worked out exactly how you planned." She stepped forward her finger raised threateningly at Emma's face. "You are coming to that dinner." Regina snapped in a tone that brooked no argument, but she wasn't done yet. "You will bring something for Henry as a souvenir from your little Pirate jaunt in Neverland." The finger jabbed at her chest. "You will eat and make small talk, and regale him with tales of adventure." Another, more painful jab. "You will tell him you missed him and you will behave like you want to be there with your family." The finger raised her perfectly manicured nail threatening. "Or so help me Miss Swan, I will have to break my promise to him and force you to reconsider."

Emma was slightly stunned, and more than a little bit furious and plenty guilty, that this woman of all people was taking her to task. She'd like to think that she had some control over what happened next, sadly that would have been giving herself too much credit. In reality what happened was what always happened to her when she let her emotions get the better of her... people got hurt.

The blast of energy hit Regina soundly in the chest and sent her sailing over the edge of the ship and into the water with a tremendous splash, followed by a screech of outrage.

"Crap." Emma managed, sharing an incredulous look with Hook, before they simultaneously darted to the edge to stare over at the once pristine looking mayor, now doing her best impression of a drowned rat.

Jukes recovered faster than the rest of them, he hurled a rope down which Regina dutifully caught as they used it to haul her out of the water.

"Regina I'm so sorry." Emma gasped, helping to set her upright on deck again and futilely trying to wipe water off her. Regina stood there sopping wet and still curiously reserved as she gave her the most withering of looks.

"You didn't retaliate." Emma realised quietly, seeing the surprise on Regina's face as well, settling into something like pride.

"Yes well, some of us have better self control." Regina sneered, ringing her hair out into a nice puddle on the deck. "You should address that little magic problem of yours dear, before it takes over, particularly if you expect to spend any time with Henry." The look she gave her was loaded and Emma swallowed uneasily, hating that everyone seemed to know how to handle this magic thing better than her. "I'll see you tonight Miss Swan." She turned to walk away, glancing back, "By the way, I'm making meat cobbler." Regina nodded meaningfully at her and sauntered back of the ship like she hadn't just ruined her expensive suit in salt water.

"Like I'd eat anything she gave me." Emma muttered as Hook sauntered up just as causally to her, flipping something between his fingers that she was not the least bit pleased to see, "Is that...?"

"Thought it would make a nice souvenir." He smirked. "Guess the boy can have it." He tossed the offending item to her; Emma opened her hand, seeing the pearl that had caused so much drama that day with the Mermaid... the one she thought she'd tossed overboard.

"Pirate." Emma sighed wearily, not meaning it to come off quite as endearing as it did.

Hook smiled and kissed her gently on the cheek. "You're welcome Princess, but between you and me I think he'd prefer this." He pulled out a giant tooth he'd pulled from the mouth of the man eating crocodile and dangled it in front of her attached to a string that he'd pierced through the top. Emma caught it, feeling guilt once more that Hook and Regina were both managing to be better parental figures than she was. "That pearl really should stay with the woman that fought off a mermaid for it... particularly as I stole it for you in the first place." He brushed his finger underneath her chin, tilting her face so that he could press a soft kiss to her lips.

It would have been touching if her insides weren't squirming in turmoil about what she'd let herself in for tonight.

"What am I supposed to wear? My clothes are still at the apartment." Emma muttered, it wasn't exactly high up on her list of concerns, but it was easier to focus on that than what had just happened and the awkwardness she knew awaited.

Jukes idled up to her and slipped a key into her palm, grasping her wrist a fraction too long and forcing her eyes onto his. "I took the liberty of retrieving some of your items my Lady, they are stored in the hold." Emma was speechless, which seemed to amuse Jukes as he nodded and turned away to bark orders at a sailor who was still sleeping on deck, Starkey was curiously absent she noted, but that was Hook's concern, she had enough of her own.

"By retrieved did he mean steal?" Emma asked Hook quietly as Jukes passed out of earshot.

"Not likely, I imagine it was the reason for our unexpected little visit this morning, I'm sure Jukes appearing on the Charming's doorstep asking for your things did wonders for their sense of family bonding." He looked distinctly pleased with himself, Emma gave him a sideways look.

"Don't scheme with my life Killian." Emma chastised him lightly, but the smile she wore as she closed her fist around the key softened the blow somewhat, this whole thing had his scheming hand all over it.

"As you wish my Lovely," he smiled back, a brief flash of warmth there.

"Come with me." She hadn't known she was going to ask it before the words slipped out of her mouth, but once they were out, there was no taking them back, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to.

"No." He replied firmly.

"Don't make me beg Killian." Emma grasped his hand, running her fingers along his pulse point in a blatant attempt at manipulation that he seemed to appreciate.

He relented, much to her relief, "Far be it for me to make a Lady debase herself with the act of begging a gentleman such as myself." He inclined his head to her, but she could tell despite his attempt to lighten the moment that he wasn't entirely comfortable with the suggestion.

"You're a part of my life." Emma reminded him, "Like it or not, that life means my family too, as you were so keen to remind me yesterday."

Hook snorted in derision. "Wonderful. I can imagine our dear Queen Snow is going to be thrilled," he angled his cheek at her, "Or do I need to remind you of the little parting gift she left me with." The faint scar from her mother's blade had never quite faded from his cheek and she traced it softly now.

"I'll protect you from my mother." She smirked, teasing him as she dropped a chaste kiss to the cheek in question.

"Great. Then all I have to worry about is your father, the monster slaying Prince Charming."

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	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Hook stood calmly beside Emma, she was nervous, that much was obvious, it was odd, he had seen her face down far worse than a dinner with family, yet nothing had reduced her quite to the quivering waif of a woman that he usually found such unappealingly easy pickings.

He realised that she wasn't going to make the move to go inside herself, so he raised his hand and rapped sharply on the door. She flinched at the sound and he felt compelled to place his palm against the flat of her back, not that it took much to compel him to touch her. Away from Neverland his feelings were much clearer and far less confused with the lust their shared cursed had sparked. He found he preferred it this way.

"Easy Love. It's only family." He told her, noting the irony in those words, he supposed he knew better than anyone just how much pain family could inflict.

The door swung open and Hook slid his mask into place with practised ease; that was one thing he found so invigorating about being around Emma, there were no masks between them now.

"Emma!" Queen Snow declared her grin wide but faltering when she realised her prodigal daughter wasn't alone. Charming was beside her, his arm going around his wife supportively, but his eyes were narrowed on him, Hook knew that look, had seen it from more than a few fathers in his time. They seemed to form one impenetrable wall of parental judgement in front of him now and he relished the challenge of it.

"The Charming's." Hook grinned rakishly, his arms wide and inviting, sliding in front of Emma, who seemed to be reconsidering their somewhat press ganged decision to be here. "Or is that Mom and Dad?"

Their expressions were priceless and he heard the shocked breath come from Emma, right before he felt the slap against the back of his head.

"Killian!" she hissed, shoving him to the side and attempting to repair the damage he'd just done. He smirked, he'd promised he'd come, he hadn't promised he'd behave.

"Tell me you didn't marry this Pirate!" Snow was screeching, her nostrils actually seemed to flare with her rage. Charming looked like he'd been slugged one too many times, clearly his wife's white hot rage wasn't his thing, which meant it was probably the more slow burning kind, Hook made a note to watch his back.

Emma gave him a look that had castrated lesser men at forty paces. Oh she'd make him pay for letting that little cat out of the bag, he supposed he could have qualified it... he wasn't sure Indian Tribal Ceremonies counted when they were performed under duress, but then, _he'd_ meant every word. Something about sacrificing a Newlywed pair to bless the next harvest. Either way he'd quite enjoyed the notion of her being bound to him, something at the time she'd clearly found abhorrent, but she hadn't yet he noticed, flat out denied the nuptials were valid which he smirked quietly to himself about.

The ranting continued, but at least they let them into the apartment, to the rather surprised looking faces of the Boy and the Evil Queen. He hated that witch, but that was Emma's bug bear, not his. He raised his hook in greeting to the kid, who smiled in response just that little too wide and trusting and for the briefest flash he saw Emma shining out of his face, as his eyes followed the metal blade with fascination. Regina placed a hand on her 'almost sons' shoulder, instantly shaking the boy out of his trance and refocusing his attention as he remembered 'it wasn't polite to stare'. Hook gave Regina a mocking salute with his hook, before spotting the array of food laid out on the table and sauntering over to pick at it before he felt the urge to rend her in two for setting him up to be beheaded by her mother years ago.

Emma was still trying to explain his comment away to Snow, as he heard Charming idle up beside him, arms crossed; up close and personal he was bigger than Hook remembered.

"What are you doing here Captain?" well, at least his manners were impeccable Hook noted.

"I was invited. Seemed the young lass was in something of a quandary about coming here without backup." Hook grinned thinly at him, trying to judge whether he needed to defend himself. Charming's hand went down on his shoulder and he leant in until they were almost nose to nose, the clear blue of his eyes remarkably like Emma's... just without her fire. Emma might have got her eyes from this man, but the spirit was entirely her mothers. Either way, he didn't appreciate the threat.

"I don't like that my daughter has somehow become tangled up in this life of yours Captain."

Hook met his strong gaze firmly. "Pity, because I do." He winked, and eased back away from the clearly fuming Prince and turned his attention to the hesitant mother-son reunion trying to happen across the room. The boy was in tears when Emma finally held open her arms for him to run into, she clung to him, lifting his feet off the floor and holding him like she truly never meant to let him go again.

It would all have been very touching if Hook hadn't noticed Emma's shadow.

It was moving.

Just not with her.

In fact, he realised uneasily that it wasn't just moving, it was making a hasty retreat towards the door. Hook moved, trying to make it look subtle, but Charming was right with him, he turned catching the other mans eye whilst trying to keep the Shadow in his eyeline hoping Prince Dimwitted would get the hint. Charming frowned... and Hook found he was rather glad that Emma had clearly inherited her wits and her spirit from her mother's side.

The Shadow that in silhouette looked like the very outline of his lady love was at the door, and turning the handle. Hook didn't want to find out what would happen if Emma lost her shadow, all he knew was that this reeked of Neverland and he'd be damned if he let it touch her again. Not after his promise. He wouldn't be made a liar, not to her.

Hook darted forward, slamming the slowly opening door shut and trying not to look like a madman doing it. All eyes were on him. "There was a draft." He smiled thinly, locking the door firmly and sliding the chain across, watching the shadow retreating around the corners of the room unnoticed.

Charming stepped up to him. "I saw it." He nodded, keeping his tone too low to disturb the barbed comments 'not' being thrown between Emma and Regina as they exchanged terse pleasantries. Charming glanced at the shadow, tracking its movement a second before refocusing on him. "What is it?" he sounded like a man who was used to slaying the thing that went bump in the night... in hindsight Hook considered that perhaps he wasn't the ideal ally for this task.

"Your daughter's shadow appears to have gone walkabout." Hook smiled through his grimace, trying to look like they were just having a pleasant heart to heart, with veiled threats, just like everyone expected.

"What?" Charming hissed, drawing a look of concern from Emma, Hook waved her concern away, more likely she just wanted the distraction but he doubted this was what she had in mind.

"You really don't get it do you Your Highness." Hook sneered, his back to the others so they couldn't see his expression as he gave into the sudden swell of anger he felt for this insufferable idiot; Charming had no idea what Emma had been through, what her life had been, what she struggled with every day. The walls Hook had needed to painstakingly prise apart, only to have them slam shut again the moment her so called family waltzed back on the scene, demanding things she was simply not ready to give. "I told you she wasn't ready... I sent Jukes here to make that perfectly clear. Royals!" He spat, "You always think you know best." He shrugged past him, "Help me corner the damn thing before it escapes and takes another piece of Emma with it."

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Emma was trying to keep her attention on Henry, on his face as she held out the crocodile tooth for him, he took it in one hand, his other was still wrapped firmly around her waist.

"I missed you Mom." He whispered, holding the tooth firmly in his grip like it was a talisman he had no intention of putting down.

"Missed you too Kiddo. I'm sorry I haven't been around much, I just have some things I needed to sort through. Besides you have your Grandma and Grandpa and Regina looking after you. You're in good hands." She kissed him on the top of his head, hating the way both Regina and Mary Margaret were looking at her; both of them looked about ready to give her a slap.

"So." Emma tried once more, grasping Henry's chin and forcing him to look up at her. "You're really not going to ask?" she smirked at him and he gave her a hesitant smile.

"Ask about what?" she'd managed to draw that excited tone out of him again at least.

Emma leant in conspiratorially. "What it feels like to fly." His eyes went wide with wonder and she couldn't help but smile.

"You can fly?" he asked unable to hide just how impressed he was with that.

"Well how else do you think we got that ship here?" she ruffled his hair affectionately, frowning as she had to stretch down to do it.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret's worried expression said it all as Emma glanced down to find her feet inches off the floor and climbing.

"How are you doing that?" Regina asked, staring up at her with an expression that mirrored Henry's; clearly flying, at least unaided, wasn't one of her many tricks.

"I have no idea." Emma managed weakly as she put her hands up to prevent her head from hitting the ceiling. "I imagine it has something to do with the damn Stardust though."

Mary Margaret was underneath her, she grasped her booted ankle firmly and tried to tug her back down, only Emma wasn't budging.

"Regina help me." Snow called, stirring the other woman into action as she grasped Emma by the other ankle and together they pulled... she bobbed like some sort of insane helium balloon but she didn't lose any more height. Even as it felt like Regina was trying to pull her foot off.

"David!" Mary Margaret called, "We could use a little help in here. You can deal with Hook later!"

Emma glanced up seeing David pop his head around a corner and give the position they were all in a cursory once over. "You seem to have it all in hand. I'll be right back." Then incredibly he disappeared back into the other room. She spared a moments concern for Hook, before remembering she should probably have been more worried about her father.

"David!" Mary Margaret and Regina seemed to shriek together, only to be met by what were unmistakably sounds of a scuffle.

"Men." Regina snapped, "honestly." She looked at Henry who seemed to wilt a bit. "Henry be a dear and go and interrupt those two idiots, let them know we have more important things... like a floating Princess stuck to the ceiling, to deal with out here."

Henry smirked, seeming to find the whole thing amusing as he darted into the back room.

"Emma, stop this, you need to come down right now." Mary Margaret scolded, like she was a misbehaving child.

Emma stared down in disbelief. "You honestly think I'm doing this on purpose?"

"Well you made it perfectly clear that you didn't want to be here. Honestly, blasting Regina off the ship like that..." Emma gave Regina a scathing look, "Oh she didn't say a word, Granny saw, which means the whole town got wind of it. When were you going to tell me that you had magic?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Well if I hadn't before, I'm guessing right about the time I floated up to your ceiling would have done it."

Henry cut them off by stumbling out of the room looking white as a sheet, he hurried up to them, putting himself firmly behind them all and closer to the door.

"Henry dear, what is it?" Regina dropped Emma's foot and grasped Henry's shoulders instead.

"They're a little busy." He told her firmly, his expression deeply concerned now as he gave Emma a searching look. Regina looked furious as she spun, seemingly to charge in after them, but Henry grabbed her wrist. "They're not fighting each other." He added, surprising them all, so much so that Emma felt herself actually drop a few feet, Mary Margaret and Regina seemed to seize the opportunity by grabbing Emma's wrists and dragging her back until her feet hit the floor with a thump.

There was a crash from the other room. Emma charged forward finding Henry darting in front of her. "Don't go in there." He told her firmly. Emma frowned, irritation blooming, her son he might be, but she didn't like people telling her what to do, particularly not when she'd just had to be extracted from a ceiling.

She approached the bathroom door Hook and David seemed to have holed up in and went for the handle, only to have Hook come sprawling out of it to land solidly on his ass. What was concerning was the way he was struggling with...nothing. Then he turned, flipping over and she sucked in a horrified breath, he was fighting a shadow, she could see it now imprinted firmly against the floor, it's hands somehow solid, and throttling him.

"Little help Love!" Hook snarled, struggling to keep the thing pinned.

Emma froze, the others didn't seem to suffer from the same affliction, darting in to try and pin the struggling shadow to the ground.

"Is that... mine?" she asked hearing the shake in her voice and seeing Killian's dark expression as he confirmed her suspicions.

"Mom... you're like Peter Pan!" Henry declared sounding thrilled as he turned beaming to her, but his expression faltered at what she could only imagine was the absolute look of terror on her face at his exclamation.

She heard Hook swear. "Emma. You're nothing like him Love. Now get over here and help me stick this damn thing back to you."

Regina snorted, pinning the shadow by the throat as it writhed "And how exactly do you intend to do that?" she asked him pointedly. "I have no intention of falling off the magic wagon to help Miss Swan out of this mess she's found herself in."

"Where's David?" Mary Margaret asked uneasily as she held the shadow pinned at the ankles, turning her head and trying to see into the almost demolished bathroom door for him.

"He's unconscious." Hook muttered, "For a supposed warrior Prince he has a surprisingly glass jaw."

Mary Margaret looked back at the bathroom, stricken, but she didn't desert her position.

Emma was lost, she had no desire to approach the writhing thing, nor to have it reattached to her, Henry slid his hand into hers, urging her forwards slightly. "Mom, you have to reattach it, like the stories, do you remember?" he hesitated at her wide eyed look.

"You are not sowing that thing to my feet!" she all but shrieked.

"Emma what the hell is happening here?" Mary Margaret stared up at her from her position struggling despite the three of them to restrain the shadow, which seemed most definitely to want to free itself and it wasn't the least bit bothered about who it hurt apparently.

"Neverland is trying to re-claim her." Hook snapped. "And right now, this little family reunion, is making it a hell of a lot easier."

"Re-claim her?" Mary Margaret asked, sounding as horrified as Emma felt.

Regina was giving her a shrewd look. "Ah." She nodded, as if that explained everything.

"Mom. You can't leave me again!" Henry cried, startling them all as he tugged her violently towards the shadow, that seemed to want to be as far from Emma as she did to it, as it redoubled its efforts to squirm free.

Regina dropped her head, when she lifted it again, her eyes met Emma's and they seemed to be tainted with a purple hue. She reached down, right into the centre of the shadow, shoving Hook aside she seemed to grasp for the very heart of the shadow. It froze its squirming instantly as she curled her hands around its core and rose to her feet, holding it aloft like a limp doll as she approached Emma. Emma backed away, finding Henry's grip solid as Regina approached her with the god awful thing, it was too surreal to be happening, even for this town. But it didn't stop Regina from hurling the thing back over her like a cloak, wrapping it around her until she felt it seem to slide back beneath her skin and spill out behind her... attached.

They were nose to nose, Regina and her, an understanding seem to pass between them. For Henry.

"I expect you at my home in the morning Miss Swan." Regina told her curtly. "I may have made an exception tonight, but I have no intention of making this a habit; I might not use it, but I can certainly teach you how to control this magic before you put us all at risk." Emma merely nodded, what the hell could she say? She needed help, even she wasn't pig headed enough after this to deny an olive branch, even if it was Regina offering it.

"Good." Regina nodded, straightening herself out as if she wasn't still perfectly quaffed. "But right now you are far too much of a risk to be around Henry. You need to leave Miss Swan."

Mary Margaret was the only one that didn't seem a little relieved by that. "Regina, this is my home. My daughter is welcome here, if she has a problem, we'll deal with it, as a family." The remainder of that family seemed to be emerging from the bathroom, a nasty looking gash on his forehead as he grasped the door frame for support, appraising the situation.

"Maybe Regina's right."David muttered.

"David!" Mary Margaret was turning shrill as she approached him and Emma sympathised as he winced, clutching his head.

"I want Emma here as much as you do, but Regina's right." David looked clearly pained by the statement as he stared at Emma apologetically. "We can't risk Henry getting hurt. That shadow... it was wild, and it packed one hell of a punch. What if Henry had gotten in its way, he'd be the one sprawled on the floor with his head bleeding." David shook his head. "Sorry kiddo." Emma wasn't sure which one of them he was apologising too, her or Henry. "But until you get a handle on this, I think you were right and we were wrong to push you before you were ready."

Hook had slid up beside her without her noticing... it was a particular skill of his. "Come on Love. Let's not wear out our welcome; I think we've all had enough excitement for one night."

"No." Mary Margaret snapped, stalking forward and grasping Emma by the hand. "She stays!" she declared, looking for support in a room that really wasn't on the same page as her. "What if it happens again, what if she's outside and she starts floating into the sky?"

Emma felt a cold knot form in her stomach, she knew exactly what would happen, she'd wind up back in Neverland.

"Not going to happen Princess." Hook wrapped his arm around her waist as he pulled a pouch from out of his pocket; she had a moment to recognise the contents before he blew them straight into her face. His dark eyes alight with everything unspoken between them, were the last thing she saw as she felt the tug of unconsciousness claim her.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

"Hook!" Emma bellowed as he shared a dark look with Jukes who stood his back to the wall, observing the disturbing sight of Emma trussed up to the bed. In another situation, he'd have been thrilled, but right now he was more concerned with keeping her here.

Hook placed his hand on Jukes' shoulder. "Watch her. If she starts floating, or her shadow starts to make a break for it, hell, if her hair so much as sparkles, you have permission to use this to knock her out cold." He handed off the poppy seed powder to the burly tattooed pirate.

Jukes glanced at it and then back at Emma who was writhing on the bed trying to free herself and staring incredulously at him. "Killian!" she called, softer now as he turned back to stare at her giving her his most confident grin, it was telling that she was only half heartedly expressing her outrage, clearly she wasn't so sure she didn't need the restraints either.

"It'll be fine Love. Just have a small errand to run. You're in good hands."

"I swear to god, if you leave me here..." he slammed the door, cutting off the muted sounds of her threats. He didn't need them, if anything happened to her...

Starkey was waiting outside as he reached the deck. "Did you get it?" he waited expectantly for the old pirate to have come through.

"Corse." The gruff response came, as he reached inside his shirt and pulled out the item.

Hook lifted it into his eyeline, shaking his head, "This is it?"

"Not much to look at, but it's his treasure sure enough. That little bonny bookworm of his gets very chatty with the wolf girl when they think their alone."

Hook nodded.

"You want to do him damage, you should just gut his girl." Starkey told him quietly, eyeing him like he'd gone soft.

Hook felt his lips press into a thin line. "Sadly that is no longer an option. Keep a look out with Jukes, I am not losing Emma to that blasted land."

8888

Hook strode through the town, noticing more than a few of the good towns folk crossing the road to avoid him. He chuckled to himself, at least he was still able to strike fear into the hearts of the peasants. But his mind drifted back to the task at hand, he'd considered a lot of options for this, had dreamt of the moment he'd finally confront his Crocodile. In none of them had he considered the idea that he'd waltz straight through the front door.

The bell above the door jingled as he sauntered inside, idling along the glass cases like he had nothing better to do.

Rumple emerged from the back, eyeing him darkly, seemingly completely unsurprised to find Hook in his shop.

"Killian Jones." Rumple smirked, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Hook stared hard at his crocodile, feeling the ache of his phantom hand intensify; the urge to rend the flesh from this leathery beast and grind his bones into dust was so intense that he found it hard to breath past the feeling.

"Emma." Hook replied, trying to keep his tone light, to not let this evil repulsive creature know just what it cost him to stand here in front of him now, and just get straight to the heart of the matter.

"Miss Swan. Yes, I had heard you two were something of an item. And here I thought I'd cured you of such afflictions as love... Hook." Rumple sneered, taking a step closer, his cane in hand and wielded with enough menace to draw Hook's eye. He wondered if the old man was seriously considering beating him to death with it. There was a time when he might have considered that an option, to finally have it end, for it to be at Rumple's hand would have been almost poetic, a way for him to truly be with Mila again.

But not now, not when he had his very own Princess.

"And I thought you were too much of a coward to give your heart to anyone..." Hook smirked right back at him, reaching inside his shirt and pulling out the item Starkey had retrieved. "Honestly Rumple, you cradle snatcher. She's barely old enough to be your great... great... great granddaughter." He chuckled darkly, swinging the delicate chipped cup from his hook like it meant nothing.

Rumple took a menacing step forward, his cane clicking as it hit the floor, but the barb had landed, Hook knew how to wound a crocodile even now it seemed.

"Give me that." Rumple was calm, controlled, Hook smirked, tossing the cup to his hand and catching it deftly, seeing the old man take a sharp intake of breath, his hand curling tightly around his cane, genuine concern for the pathetic token of his one chance at love breaking through his artifice for a split second. Hook filed that away for later.

"All in good time Rumple." Hook leant back against the glass cabinet. "You see you and I, we have history, too much for this ever to be a simple exchange of barbs. I'm sure you long to rip my heart out as much as I long to drive my hook into your chest and carve out yours." They smiled thinly back at one another. "I had it all planned out." Hook admitted, examining the cup and sliding it back onto his hook too casually to make Rumple comfortable. "I was going to lure your pretty little book keeper to the edge of town, force her over the line... make her forget about ever knowing your leathery self."

Rumple was smiling, not the pleasant kind, "And your telling me this because?"

"Old news." Hook shrugged. "It was all too passive an act for me, so I changed tack, thought I'd follow you when you left to go in search of your boy." That had surprised him, Hook felt a deep sense of satisfaction at the thought that he'd uncovered one of Rumple's little secrets. "There's a poison you see; one I was fortunate to procure on my travels; I'm told it's an agonising way to die." He examined his hook, imaging what it would have felt like dipping it in the poision and sliding the tainted weapon into Rumple's flesh. "I imagined it would work quite well on you outside the magical walls of this town. Eats away at the heart you see. I admired the symmetry of it." Hook was calm as Rumple approached him, calmer than he ever imagined being when faced with this monster again.

"I assume then, you have an alternative plan... something far more likely to succeed than those half baked ideas." Rumple was taking it all surprisingly well, but there was an edge of unease to him, of menacing intent that Hook didn't miss.

Hook stood up straight. "Who would have thought it Rumple, that I'd spend centuries waiting for my revenge, seething in it. Only to finally get the chance to stand in front of you... and find we both suddenly have something too loose again."

Hook tossed the cup at him, Rumple caught it deftly, far too deftly for a human man, his eyes flashed revealing the lizard behind them.

"What makes you think I give a damn about you or the things you have to lose Killian." Rumple hissed. "You have no bargaining chip here."

"Oh but I do." Hook smirked. "You see, I know a secret Rumple, something a little Pixie told me once, about a Lost Boy... called Baelfire."

Rumple turned his back to him, placing the cup down gently on the counter, but Hook saw it, the unmistakeable shake to his hand.

"What do you know of my Boy?" Rumple snarled, refusing to look at him.

"You mean Mila's boy?" Hook pressed, and Rumple spun, his hand outstretched lifting him off the floor without ever laying a hand on him, the unmistakeable feeling of an invisible hand around his throat. This was why he loathed magic, no such thing as a fair fight.

"You do not speak her name in front of me Pirate!" Rumple spat, clenching his outstretched fist and making Hook's heart pulse painfully in his chest. "That woman, abandoned my Boy. She was no mother."

Hook tried to choke out a laugh, not easy when you were being starved of air, but he thought it got the message across as he felt the grip lessen slightly. "Just like you abandoned him? I guess Bae really belonged in Neverland."

Rumple dropped him to the floor like he'd been burned, but as Hook raised his head to stare at him, he could see the white hot rage dancing there, barely contained.

"I have ears everywhere." Hook smirked, "and men free to come and go as they please, they were never cursed you see, which means the boundary of this little town means nothing to us. You see that little Pixie had a thing for me, was just dying to spill her pretty little secrets into my willing ear." Rumple was inching forward, as if sensing Hook finally held something of real value. "Pan was fond of this world, and of his little Lost Boys, especially those that rejoined it. He liked to see them fail you see, without him. So he'd watch them in their new lives, and my Little Pixie would watch him." Hook reached into his pocket and held out a piece of paper between his fingers to the Crocodile.

"That isn't..." Rumple trailed off, seemingly unable to take his eyes off the simple slip of paper held tantalisingly in front of him.

"It is." Hook flipped it through his fingers, "The address of your boy. Apparently he stopped running some time ago. Right around the time he met a mutual blonde friend of ours."

Rumple's eyes went wide and Hook sighed deeply, finally free to tell someone the secret that had been eating him alive. "That little Minx of a Pixie never forgets a face you see. Especially not when they show up on her doorstep, making moves on her Pan."

"Emma... and Bae?" Rumple reached out and grasped the counter as if for support. Hook could relate, taking pleasure in spreading this unique shared misery of theirs.

"How do you think I feel Grandpa, it turns out I'm shagging my Step-Daughter in Law."

"You're lying." Rumple snarled, forgetting all magic and just grabbing him by the front of his shirt, raising his cane as if to bludgeon him into taking the words back.

Hook sneered back at him, detaching himself and straightening out his shirt. "If I were, I'd come up with something more believable than this. Trust me, no one could make this twisted little family tree of ours up."

"What do you want?" Rumple straightened, snatching the paper from his still outstretched hand and tearing it open, his eyes scanning the scrawled New York address like a dying man offered a reprieve.

"Emma is in trouble, I need a talisman, something to keep her here and ward off the effects of Neverland, just until she can get control of this magic thing." Rumple lifted his eyes from the paper.

"And why would I do that Captain? It seems you have already given me what I require." He turned away, as if dismissing him.

Hook snorted. "Baelfire has a son he doesn't know about with a woman he's been pining over for ten years. You want a way in... a way to get him to spend more than a moment in the same room with you. Then you need Emma and her boy."

Rumple's lip quirked. "I don't need you for that." Rumple snarled raising his palm, which was filled with fire.

Hook lifted his chin. "Right now, I'm the only thing in the world keeping Emma tethered here. I imagine she's not of much use to you from Neverland." The ball of fire didn't hit him. "Besides, we both know that you have a plan for Emma. You didn't go to all this trouble of manipulating the very circumstances of her birth, just to have it all backfire now."

Rumple lowered his hand "We aren't done." the flames went out. "You and I," he pointed between them, "We'll deal with this one day soon."

"Looking forward to it." Hook countered with feeling.

Rumple turned, stalking behind the glass counter and pulling out a key, which he used on a small ornate box he pulled from thin air. He opened the little and reverently pulled out a golden chain that held some sort of gem like pendant. Rumple dangled it in front of him, letting the object glint in the light, revealing a speck of pure sunlight trapped inside an amber case.

"Stardust." Rumple spoke softly, admiring it. "Distilled down into a single grain; it holds enough raw power to disintegrate this whole town, or counteract our Young Miss Swan's own, rather potent magic." He tossed the pendant at him, Hook snatched it from the air, surprised Rumple would tell him it had that kind of power, clearly he'd underestimated just how desperate Rumple was to see his son.

"Just like that?" Hook queried, not trusting this Crocodile in the least.

"Just like that." His smile was taunting, "As you say, it seems keeping Miss Swan in Storybrooke has become something of a mutual goal."

"And in return?" Hook loathed saying it, the idea that he'd contemplate making a deal with this creature was repellent.

"When the time comes, I'm sure you'll find a way to convince Emma to take a short trip to New York with me. I'm certain she and Henry would be thrilled to have a little family reunion." Rumple knew what he was asking, what Hook had offered in desperation on Emma's behalf.

But Hook knew how he felt, knew what Emma felt.

Bae was her past. _He_ was her future. He had nothing to fear from a little Lost Boy.


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

The amber necklace was heavy, Emma felt like she had an anvil around her neck, it actually made it hard to breathe. The moment Hook had slipped it over her head, lowering it to rest between her breasts she'd wanted to rip it off. It was like it was sucking the life out of her, smothering her in some sort of cloying fog that seeped in between her bones.

But the trinket had cost him. It was etched into every pained inch of his face exactly just how much it had cost. He'd confronted his Crocodile and had to let him go, worse he'd been forced to make a deal, on her behalf. He hadn't wanted to tell her the specifics of the deal, he had said it was a conversation for another day... one where she'd learnt to control her magic. That hadn't encouraged her, but he had remained stubborn in his silence. She knew from experience that he'd tell her in his own time and that pressing him wasn't going to get her anywhere, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. The fact that he'd told her so much, that the deal was _'hers', _but the way he'd said it made her think that he'd bargained something too.

She should have been furious, not so long ago she would have been. But she wasn't the same person anymore, and despite her best efforts to resist it, she trusted Killian with her life, she'd had to, frequently and somehow he always pulled through for her. She trusted him now, it was strange but it was the idea that she trusted someone so implicitly that actually bothered her, it should have been the other way round, which meant she was clearly as screwed up as she'd always thought she'd be. Which probably explained how she'd ended up here...

Emma sighed, staring up at Regina's manor house, wondering how much disappointment she could bear to face if she just turned around, went back and crawled into bed with Hook, downed a bottle of rum and shut the rest of the world out.

But she'd promised.

Damn him, he always asked right when she was feeling most vulnerable... and naked.

Jukes cleared his throat. Subtle. Emma gave him a sideways look. He just shrugged, her unflappable body guard, here on pain of death to ensure she didn't float back to Neverland, or blow up her reluctant teacher.

She in no way imagined that Hook wasn't somewhere, lurking, Regina had stipulated that he wasn't to come, something about his unstable emotional energy... or hers when he was around, either way, Emma seriously doubted he was far despite his protestations about having a lazy day in bed.

Emma stepped onto the porch, not even needing to knock, it seemed Regina had been waiting, she opened the door arms crossed, a smug expression quirking her lips as she stared at her, clearly enjoying the idea that Emma 'needed' her. But her expression was lingering on Jukes who was following at her heel.

"Miss Swan. Come in," her hand went out inches from Jukes' chest. "Your guard dog can stay outside."

"Where the Lady goes, I go." Jukes seemed to grow several feet with that statement and even Regina paused, clearly deciding how much magic it might require her to abuse, just to get him to do as she wanted.

Clearly she decided it wasn't worth it as Regina leant in closer to him. "If you insist. But remove your shoes, and don't sit on the white couch." She snapped, stepping aside to let them into the large front hall of her home. Jukes just stared his expression unnervingly blank until she looked away, refocusing instead on Emma.

"Miss Swan, if you please." Regina indicated for her to follow, as she led her through the house and straight out into the back garden, the door slammed behind them without being touched Emma noticed, right in Jukes face. Regina turned and gave him a cold look through the glass. Jukes stalked right up to it and met her gaze unflinchingly from behind it, it seemed ridiculous that the simple glass and wood frame could hold him, but he inclined his head at Regina, and pulled up a chair from inside and set it down directly in front of the glass.

"Was that really necessary?" Emma sighed as Regina turned and stepped casually over to her, kicking her heels off and shrugging off her suit jacket, until she was stood in front of Emma in a simple blouse and suit pants; looking almost casual.

"Miss Swan, you are about to be stripped emotionally bare, forgive me for assuming you might prefer what meagre privacy those wooden glass doors provide." Regina gave her a knowing look and Emma felt herself swallow uneasily. Regina was being 'nice', this was not a situation she'd expected to be in.

"Thank you." Emma managed quietly, not imagining it was a word Regina was overly familiar with hearing. "For that, and for this." She indicated between them.

Regina nodded. "Yes well, I highly doubt you will be thanking me soon enough." She stepped right up to Emma who remained unflinchingly still as she reached out, pulling loose the pendant from her shirt and tracing its outline almost tenderly. "I wore this once." She admitted quietly, like it was some sort of shameful secret, their eyes met and Emma could smell the faint hint of Regina's perfume between them, reminding her just how very real this woman was and how much she had probably been through. "Rumplestiltskin's methods are cruel, but effective." She sighed, dropping the pendent, but not stepping back out of Emma's personal space. "Remove it." She instructed.

Emma frowned, touching the pendant. She'd been desperate to remove this damn thing since Hook had draped it over her head first thing this morning, but now, the idea of doing so seemed like very much the opposite of what she should be doing... or was that just because it was Regina suggesting it.

"Miss Swan." Regina leant in close, so close that Emma could see the flecks of colour in what she had assumed previously were merely brown eyes, "Let me make something clear, if you are here to learn from me, you will listen and you will obey my every command. Remove the pendant."

Emma sighed, she needed Regina, needed to get a grip on this magic thing, which meant she had to follow Regina's rules, at least for now. She slipped the pendant off her neck and placed it in Regina's waiting palm. Regina shuddered the moment it made contact with her skin and she placed it carefully but quickly on the garden table.

"Why did you have to wear it?" Emma new better than to give in to her curiosity, but Regina had been the one to bring it up, she would have been a fool not to press the opportunity, and if Neverland had taught her nothing else, it was to be no one's fool.

Regina kept her eyes on the harmless looking object, but her brow creased slightly. "It was a punishment." She admitted her voice strained. "Magic is power you see. Rumplestiltskin wanted to make that particular lesson quite clear to me when he took mine away and left me stranded in the Infinite Forest with this... enchanted thing hanging around my chest like a lead weight."

Emma cast it another cursory glance, that was almost exactly how she'd felt, only she'd voluntarily placed it over her head... and been able to remove it. Emma eyed Regina with this new information, a dawning realisation as to just how much this rehabilitation from magic must have cost Regina, it clearly went against everything she had been conditioned to feel and believe in. Her respect for the woman unwittingly rose another notch.

Of course Regina had to go and ruin it. "This must have cost you a pretty penny Miss Swan, I can't imagine Gold gave that trinket up without a serious down payment against your soul."

Emma frowned. "Hook made the deal." she shrugged, dismissing it, she trusted him, a few cutting words from the Evil Queen weren't going to shake that newly realised belief.

Regina smiled thinly at her. "Yes, well, _the_ _Pirate King_ seems to have turned over a noble leaf when it comes to you." She squared up to her. "But don't be fooled Miss Swan, he is a cold blooded killer who cares for nothing and no one. You are no different. I should know, I hired him once to kill my mother."

Emma snorted, hardly surprised, but having met the sweet Cora, she could hardly blame Regina, in fact she thought she'd turned out remarkably stable considering the evil witch who'd birthed her. "How about we _not_ discuss Hook, I have enough disapproved tutting to deal with from Mary Margaret without hearing it in stereo."

"I don't like that killer being around Henry." Regina lost whatever civility she had been trying for as she raised her finger in warning, reminding Emma of the last time she'd tried that tact with her on the boat, and exactly how her unstable magic had responded to the threat.

Emma swallowed the rage her comment caused, seething inside that this woman was again taking her to task over Henry. But then that was the bargain she had made when she gave him up she had made her bed, this was her lying in it. "Noted." She bit out. "Can we get on with this?"

"Certainly Miss Swan. Now that your leash has been removed, I imagine you are just bubbling over with the need to release all that pent up energy." She quirked an eyebrow at her and Emma got the distinct feeling like she was being mocked; only she didn't get the joke.

"Something simple perhaps." Regina was back to giving her that predatory smile. "We'll try having you move something by sheer will... if you succeed at that, perhaps we can move on to more taxing techniques.

8888

Emma felt like she was about to pass out, her heart was pounding so heart and there was a sheen of sweat across her skin as she bent over, trying to catch her breath. But the damn plant pot had moved. That was the important thing.

"Congratulations Miss Swan, you have after..." she checked her watch, her tone thick with derision, "four hours, managed to focus your mind enough to channel your magical potential into shifting a relatively small pot a few inches."

"Bite me." Emma bit out, straightening up and trying not to wince as every bone in her body seemed to protest. Not the most mature of responses, but she was encouraged by it.

Regina smirked. "My dear, I knew you were emotionally closed off, but honestly this is ridiculous. How on earth do you expect to learn control, if you are terrified of actually feeling anything!"

Emma opened her mouth to protest and closed it again with a sick feeling. Exposed and raw. That was what Regina had said she would be when they had finished, she was neither. Just exhausted. Which meant she had failed.

"What do you expect Madam Mayor." Emma snarled, "You don't exactly promote a safe and secure sharing environment. I might have better luck with Archie than here, because clearly you and I can't get past all the crap that's between us and our families." Emma went to stalk away, surprised when Regina caught her arm.

Emma was about to shrug her loose when she felt a surge of energy rush through her, like an electric shock, but so much more powerful as it resonated inside of her, and for the barest moment she felt the potential, the deep reservoir inside of her bubbling away, just like Regina promised. Emma noticed Regina flinch, clearly feeling the same thing, but she didn't let go. There's eyes met and Emma saw the flicker of concern there.

"Emma." Regina spoke quietly now, the use of her name seeming to startle them both, "You possess the kind of magic that people have killed for. Rumplestiltskin cursed himself to obtain the type of power you were born with. God knows what my mother did to ensure that the black arts Rumple taught her passed along to me." Their eyes locked. "Magic like that, it wants out... even your stubbornness can only contain it for so long before it finds a way. If that happens, it will control you. Not the other way around."

Her grip was unerringly tight, Emma glanced at her hand, watching as Regina realised with alarm she was still holding on as she released her hastily.

"Is that concern for me I hear Regina?" Emma taunted, relying on her tried and tested defence mechanisms to protect herself from the fear Regina's warning had ignited inside of her.

Regina gave her a pained smile that seemed truly pitying. "Concern for us all dear."

Emma felt her shoulders slump, she wanted to rage against this woman, force her to take back her words, but she knew she was only speaking the truth, hard to believe as it was, Regina was trying to help her.

"What would you have me do Regina?" Emma relented, risking herself in a genuine moment of weakness to the Evil Queen.

Regina moved across to the table and retrieved the pendent, again eliciting a shudder the moment her skin made contact with it, as she carried it uneasily back to her. Emma bowed her head, accepting the talisman as Regina dropped it back around her neck with no small amount of relief.

"Come back tomorrow, we'll start again." Regina instructed, crossing her arms and almost daring her to argue.

Emma nodded, turning away.

"Try and come back in a less hostile frame of mind." Regina called after her, causing Emma to pause, but she didn't look back, just stiffened her shoulders and stalked very deliberately up the steps to open the door and retrieve her guard dog. Jukes stood, giving her a nod, but saying nothing as he followed her out of the house she couldn't bear to be in for a moment longer.

As they cleared the property Jukes' hand went down on her shoulder. "Forgive an old sailor his observation My Lady, but the witch see's what she wants to see when she looks at you." Emma turned looking up at him, he wasn't what you would call a sympathetic figure, his tattooed and weather beaten face bore the scars of a violent life, but there was an openness to him that disarmed her sometimes. Why this hulk of a man had chosen to indebt himself to her after the incident with the mermaid she didn't know, Hook had mentioned something about a history with the mermaids, but he hadn't elaborated and she hadn't asked. But clearly he had chosen to invest his rather varied skills to paying her back for whatever he considered his debt to be.

"And what is it you see?" Emma queried, cocking a challenging eyebrow at him.

"I see a woman that has lived a hard life... 'tis only instinct to protect ourselves from a life like that, it builds survivors My Lady, that is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Well right now, that hard shell of mine seems to be causing me more harm than good." Emma sighed, feeling like she should feel guilty for merely learning to survive.

"Funny thing about shells," Jukes noted, squeezing her shoulder. "They crack when we outgrow them."


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

The sessions with Regina were getting no easier, Emma collapsed onto her back, staring up at the white ceiling of the Mayor's front room. At least they'd taken it in doors now, which meant Regina trusted her not to smash her furniture. Regina tutted and sat down primly on the edge of her sofa, staring at her in mild disgust.

They were alone, Jukes had long since stopped accompanying her, apparently satisfied that she was in no physical danger with the Evil Queen and not willing to intrude further on what Regina had called her 'emotional stripping'. Hook had been less accepting of that particular arrangement, but Regina was adamant in barring him from entering her home, so far at least as far as Emma knew he'd upheld that rule.

Emma turned her head, observing Regina. "It wouldn't kill you to offer some constructive praise once in a while." Emma muttered, "I did just conjure that rather fetching hat out of thin air." Emma lifted said hat from its position on the coffee table and placed it on her head, giving Regina a smug smirk. The fact that it looked like something the Mad Hatter had forced her at gun point to make wasn't something she chose to share.

Regina actually cracked a smile, causing Emma to chuckle in sheer exhaustion as she collapsed back against the floor, content to merely lie there, she'd spent the last three weeks with Regina, and it was surprising just how accustomed she was becoming to being around the other woman, alone. She'd only admit it to herself, but she rather enjoyed their barbed conversations, the challenge the other woman presented when she was being more Regina and less Evil Queen.

"It's late Miss Swan and you were reasonably successful today. Perhaps we can consider giving you tomorrow off." Probably the closest to praise she was going to get from Regina.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Thanks Miss." She rolled over onto her side, propping her head up on her arm and staring at Regina who had made no attempt to move, she hated to say it, but she was actually starting to feel that perhaps under different circumstances, they might have been friends, _very_ different circumstances.

"Would you care for a drink?" Regina offered after a few moments of relatively uncomfortable silence, as she stood, crossing to her drinks cabinet and pulling out what Emma reasoned was the 'good' scotch, which meant she must have done something right, it was usually apple cider which really did nothing for her.

Emma sat up, accepting the liquid in the perfect crystal glass and knocking it back in one long gulp with relish, not quite the rum she'd grown used to, this was a hell of a lot sharper.

"The crew have clearly been passing on their bad habits to you I see." Regina quirked a disapproving eyebrow at her, but grasped the bottle of scotch, offering it to her. Emma accepted the second glass and sipped it as Regina took up her seat once more.

"Mary Margaret called today." Regina admitted quietly, causing Emma to stare up at here in surprise from her casual position on the rug.

"Did you tell them I was proving to be as much of an abject failure as a student of magic as I was a mother?" Emma smirked, throwing Regina's words from their first few days back at her.

Regina sighed, staring at the contents of her glass rather than Emma, like they offered her the secrets of the Universe. "Actually I suggested that we attempt a family dinner again."

Emma sat up abruptly, staring in disbelief at Regina. "What?" she all but hissed.

Regina gave her a dark look. "You've made real progress. And frankly, given as I've had to give up a great deal of my spare time to tutor you, time I would usually spend with Henry..." the glare she gave her was pointed, "I thought it might do us both good to have a little company."

Emma didn't feel ready, which meant she fell back on her old defensive mechanisms, of attacking first. "I have company." Emma reminded the other woman, "I don't exactly go home to a big empty bed." Ok so it was catty and the blow clearly landed because Regina pursed her lips, her grip on the crystal glass tightening reflexively.

"Crass Miss Swan. But I'd hardly call those unwashed, uneducated cretins on that ship, family." Regina's inner snob was clearly winning out and Emma bristled.

"At least I have people that give a crap about me." Emma bit back, "Which is more than you can claim." The wounded look Regina was too slow to mask made Emma regret her words, as Regina got to her feet abruptly, turning away to present her with her back as she returned the scotch to its cabinet.

Emma stood guiltily. "Regina... I'm" she wanted to say sorry, that she hadn't meant it to sound quite so harsh, but Regina beat her to it.

"I see that wall of yours is still firmly in place Miss Swan, and I had thought we were making so much progress. Perhaps inviting Henry around next Friday for Lasagne, with just the three of us was a mistake."

Emma felt the words like a slap, which was exactly what Regina had intended and she approached the other woman, raising her hand to place it gently on her shoulder. "Regina, I really am sor..." she froze, feeling the current of magic leaping between them, like she had just completed an electrical circuit with their contact. They had been careful not to touch since that first day, neither of them apparently wanting to experience the surge of power that ripped through her, opening her mind to the limitless potential of the magic inside of them both.

Regina spun on her, grasping Emma by the shoulders as if to push her away, but the increased contact of her hands only made the energy coursing through them both all that more potent. Emma felt like she was blazing... every sense heightened and her awareness of Regina, of the strength of the emotions and secrets between them laid tantalisingly bare as the bubbling intensity of the volcano waiting to erupt inside of her began to burst its dam.

Emma reacted, overwhelmed by the feeling and desperate to do something, anything to prolong it. Her hand rose almost beyond her control and slipped across Regina's cheek, curling around the back of her head and bringing her lips to crash against hers. For one shining moment, Emma felt utterly whole and connected to the blazing core of magic inside of her as it arched between them. Regina's outrage and frustration poured into her as their lips battled, Emma pressed herself as close to the other woman as she could until they were backed up against the wall, fighting to control the desperate power that Emma felt unfurling within her, desperately searching for its equal.

Then Regina shoved her violently away in blast of energy that send her sailing across the room, shattering every glass object in the room, sending it tinkling to the ground like crystal rain. Emma lay there, surrounded by broken glass, breathing heavily and stunned beyond all reason.

"Get out!" Regina snarled, looking dishevelled and utterly livid... and just as shocked as Emma was, her shaking hands clutched over her heart like she was afraid it had been ripped from her.

Emma got to her feet, hastily, all but running from the room and flying out of the door into the night. Emma didn't know what had possessed her, she certainly had never harboured any feelings like that for Regina... other than loathing and a certain grudging admiration for the other woman's strength. As she fled, she admitted, that perhaps there had always been a connection between the two of them, a spark of something, usually hostility, but it was and always had been charged and raw. Surely it wasn't really attraction? She had hated this woman, truly hated her. Now that was changing, it was too confusing to think about for long and she focused on putting one foot in front of the other, of gaining distance.

Emma stopped running when she reached the docks; god knows how long it had taken her to get her with the circling aimless route she'd taken. Stopping and catching her breath finally she ran her fingers over her lips, she couldn't shake the feelings that their brief contact had ignited however unfamiliar and powerful they had been and it terrified her.

Possessed. That was how she'd felt. Possessed by the magic inside of her, as it had clawed its way to the surface through the window she and Regina had been prying open.

"I take it tonight didn't go well?" Emma startled as Hook's distinctive voice floated to her moments before he seemed to melt out of the shadows. "That or you are being chased." He noted, clearly having watched her flee, Emma wondered just how much he'd seen, how much he knew?

Emma ran her hands through her hair in a nervous gesture, as she turned to face him.

"There's something I have to tell you." She tried for honesty, not because it was expected, but because she needed, no _wanted_ to tell him. There were no secrets between them.

"About the reason you fled from the Mayor's house like you were on fire..." he stepped close, "All ears Love." His dark eyes bored into her with intensity and she felt a part of her curl up guiltily, this had never been a man to give her heart to lightly.

"I attacked her... kissed her." Emma felt the words tumble out of her mouth as she reached for his hands, trying to forestall the inevitable outrage from him, she recalled distinctly what had happened the last time someone other than him had pressed their lips to hers.

But Hook was calm as he grasped her hands in his, "Why?" he asked gently, if there was anger there he was concealing it, which was almost more concerning.

"I have no idea." Emma almost sobbed, "I touched her and it was like my magic took control, like it was alive, it wanted to..." Emma's eyes widened in surprise as she finally put her finger on what was causing her such distress. "It wanted to devour Regina's magic." Emma raised her hand to her mouth in horror, feeling sick at the thought of something so monstrous living within her.

Hook nodded, taking the barest of moments to process that. "Best to take a few days off from this magic business then Love." He dropped her hand and reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out the pendant she'd forgotten to grab as she fled Regina's living room. "The Queen thought you might be needing this tonight."

Emma paused, he knew. He always knew. "How did you...?" she trailed off, she didn't want to know; it was enough to know that he cared enough to make her business his. However infuriating a trait it was.

"The Queen also said that she expected you for dinner at 7 sharp next Friday evening." That was three days away, she couldn't believe that Regina was still willing to have her in her home after what she'd done... what she'd almost unleashed? How could she trust herself around Henry?

Hook smiled thinly at her, raising his hand to stroke his thumb across her lips before he dropped the pendent heavily over her neck, causing her to stagger as he caught her holding her up against the sudden crushing weight of it. "It's ok Love." Hook soothed, his hand going to her hair as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, keeping her upright as he forced her to put one heavy foot in front of the other as he led her back to the ship, he could have just as easily carried her, but he knew she'd have hated the gesture.

"How is any of this ok?" she asked sounding defeated even to herself.

"Because you are finally taking this magic thing seriously." He admitted, "And you have too many people who love you to let you face it alone."

"That's not comforting Killian." Emma sighed as he eased her up the gangplank and across the deck, "Right now they're just looking like targets, something for this magic inside of me to tear apart when it finally explodes... I'm like a bomb Killian and I started ticking the moment I stepped foot in this cursed town."

Hook was silent as he reached their cabin, gently ushering her inside and easing her down onto the Chez Longue. He knelt beside her, slowly stroking his fingers through her hair, the stardust glinting with every movement as if to taunt them both. His expression was so worn that she couldn't help but reach out and stroke the stubble across his cheek, pressing her palm against him as he closed his eyes briefly against her. This was the side of Killian that no one but she got to see. The side that made her forget the _other_ man she knew he kept buried, just beneath the surface, his very own ticking time-bomb of rage and blistering vengeance. They were a pair, she was so certain of it that it actually hurt to see herself reflected in this so brokenly perfect man.

"Why aren't you angry?" she pressed, watching his eyes open instantly onto hers, as he sighed, pressing a kiss to her palm as she withdrew her hand.

His gaze was piercing as she stared back at him, trying to decipher the non-existent clues in his face... he was still wearing his mask in the safety of their cabin, which was concerning, she watched as he painstakingly let it fall and she felt her stomach flip. "Oh I'm angry Love." He whispered, leaning in close, his fingers tightening briefly in her hair, before he flexed them, sliding them behind her head and drawing her faces inches from his. "I'm raging." He breathed, his lips inches from hers. "But not at you." He pressed his forehead against hers and she could feel the tripping beat of his heart, pounding violently against his chest as he pressed himself against her.

"You were born this way Love... that isn't your fault, but it's someone's," he admitted and she saw the unspoken whisper of _Crocodile_ in his incandescent eyes, "This wasn't you, it was the magic controlling you just like that Witch Queen warned it might." He admitted, pressing a kiss to her forehead, but she could feel the stillness of him, the stillness of his rage.

"Have you watched it all?" she pressed, hearing her breath hitch.

"Of course." He admitted. "Like I would let you strip yourself emotionally raw in front of that woman without backup." He leant back cradling her face with his good hand and drawing her to him, giving her no escape from his eyes as they bored into her, seeming to strip her just as raw as anything Regina's lessons had. "We have no secrets you and I."

"We have one." Emma pressed, knowing now, after everything that had happened today it was not the time to speak about it, but it weighed on her, even if she did trust him. "Tell me about the deal you made with Gold."

He flinched and she felt his hand curl tighter around her face, digging in, but she didn't move, kept her eyes fixed firmly on his.

He dropped his head and Emma felt her heart falter. She knew that look. The shame.

"Your right I have kept a secret." He admitted, raising his head and without warning kissing her hard, so hard she felt their teeth click together as his tongue slid into her mouth, as if he was tasting her for the last time, he pulled back just as suddenly. "I know what Rumple wants most in all the world. I know why he built this curse, why he orchestrated your life... your birth. I know the very reason for your suffering." His eyes were hooded as he seemed to plead with her for forgiveness behind them, "And it doesn't make a damn bit of difference, because I can't stop this. Can't fix it." Emma tried to sit up, struggling against the weight that threatened to pull her down from the pendant, but she didn't dare take it off, not now.

"Killian." She heard the warning in her voice as clearly as he did and she watched him swallow.

"Rumple has always been a coward... he abandoned his son, a son that tried to save him. He lost him to a portal, a portal to a world without magic." Hook sighed. "This world, a world he would do anything to reach; even curse his own to destruction."

"I don't...?" Emma trailed off at his look, she was going to say 'understand', but she had a feeling that was probably better.

"His name is Baelfire. And what happened to him seems to happen to a lot of abandoned little boys that cross Peter Pan's path." Emma waited, barely daring to breathe, this as tragic as it was meant nothing to her... which meant it was coming, the sting in the tail. "Tink never forgets a face you see. She came to me, quite distressed about you in Neverland. Seems she'd seen you before, on one of her and Pan's little excursions to watch the Lost Boys that had escaped him."

Emma froze, a series of impossible dots connecting themselves in her head. "No." She said it quietly, as if the simple word could prevent the truth she feared he was about to unveil, she gripped his chin, drawing him close. "Don't." She hissed, pleading.

"Neil." Hook rasped and Emma shoved him away violently, clutching herself around the middle and desperately trying to breathe despite the crushing weight on her chest. But Hook was persistent, his hand grasped her face, trying to draw her back to him, to focus her eyes on his, but she couldn't look at him.

"What did you promise?" she choked out the words, betrayal seeming to carve her in two as a hollowness threatened to swallow her whole.

"An introduction, nothing more." Hook answered swiftly, not relenting as he wrapped his hooked arm around her waist, tugging her upright and into his arms. "Emma," he pleaded, trying to get her to look at him, as his hand on her chin grew insistent. "Rumple wants his son back... a son that loathes him. I promised him an introduction... a way in, you and Henry."

Emma let out a keening sound and almost buckled with the weight of the pain as he crushed her close, unwilling to give her the space from him she desperately needed. He clung to her like a lifeline. "Let go of me." She hissed, feeling him tense, clearly unwilling.

"No." He intoned darkly. "I did what I had to Emma. What you needed. I protected you, from the Dark One, from your magic, from Neverland. I won't apologise for that." Emma raised her head to stare back at him, seeing him flinch at the depth of the betrayal clearly etched into her face and drawing satisfaction from him seeing it.

"You're a bastard." She bit out. "You said the deal was on my behalf... you never said anything about my son's!"

Hook blinked. "Emma I..." she shoved him violently, toppling him over and running to the door, desperate to put distance between them before she incinerated him, pendant or no pendant. But Hook was fast, and motivated, he slammed her bodily into the door, trapping her as he spun her round, pinning her hands with his good one above her head and trapping her with his legs. "Listen to me... listen!" He shouted, trying to stop her squirming, his eyes alight with panic but just like he'd promised, no remorse, it made her want to rip him apart.

"He is my son Killian. You had no right!" She snarled into his face.

"Then let us get something straight, Princess!" Hook bit back, just as savagely. "I don't give a shit about the little brat." Emma sucked in a shocked breath, trying not to allow herself to dissolve, reaching for fury instead of despair. "I care about you." Hook added bitingly. "And Henry, in your life, is one of the things that causes you pain. You gave the boy up for a reason Emma." His grip around her tightened as he sensed her going still with shock and not in the least bit reassured by it, "You didn't want him, didn't want the reminder of what he was. Of that bastard Neil. Of what he did to you. Like father like son Emma. Henry has abandoned you just as surely as his father did. He has three mother's now, Regina, Snow... and you. He's going to gain two father's David... and the bastard child of Rumplestiltskin and my Mila. Do you really think there is room in all that for you anymore... would you even want it?"

Emma watched his lip twist violently at the admission, the connection to his lost love that he'd clearly been denying to himself. But right in this moment she didn't care about his pain.

"Henry is Rumple's Grandson. I gave that bastard back hope... a family. Can you imagine what that cost me? And I did it knowing that I'd have to tell you about it. Knowing you'd do exactly this, push me away. Still I did it." He was breathing heavily, trying to force her to understand, to care about his words, "Don't you see Emma, you are more important to me than anything else in this wretched world or the next." He kissed her, softly this time, his teeth tugging at her lips, desperately questing entrance against her resistant ones. "Let them have their fucked up little family Emma." He breathed, "we can start a new one, you and me. We can leave this place. Go anywhere, we're not cursed to stay here."

Emma was numb, physically and emotionally as Hook tried to draw her unresponsive form into his embrace. It shouldn't have been a shock. She knew Hook, knew his desires, for her, for them, he'd never been shy in telling her what he wanted, how the thought of her belly swelled with his seed did powerful things to him. In Neverland that had never been an option or a concern for her, children weren't born there, it just didn't happen. But here? God she hadn't even been using protection, she had just been so used to being with him without consequences. Nausea rolled around inside of her. This wasn't happening.

"Let go of me." Emma's voice was flat, she barely recognised it herself. Hook relented, releasing her hands but not backing up and giving her space, or room to swing a right hook she noted.

"Emma please." He pleaded, there was real, desperate pain in his eyes and she stared hard at him trying to sort out her feelings in the jumble, to think.

"I don't want to give up my family Killian." She told him quietly. "I have spent my life running from one emotional car crash after another. I won't do that anymore, because as I realised so vividly tonight... it might just kill me and those I care about."

"Then don't give me up." He insisted. "I can bend Emma. You know I will do whatever it takes to make you happy."

"At what cost?" Emma hissed, shoving at his chest with more force than she was expecting as he winced, bowing over slightly, before raising his head defiantly.

"What should I have done Emma?" he raised his hook to her, the first threat he'd ever made and she eyed it warily. "Should I have kept this secret? Never revealed Neil's parentage. Never bargained for your safety? Let you float back to Neverland... followed you there without a word and lived happily ever after. Because we would be happy there Emma." He snarled. "We were."

Emma met his gaze unflinchingly, trying to process all the information he'd hurled at her. His last words resonated. This wasn't his fault. He'd told her the truth. Nothing more. Emma slumped.

"This isn't fair." she breathed, seeing Killian pause as the fight bled out of her, but not the feeling of betrayal, she wasn't sure that would ever leave her.

"How long have you known about this?" she pressed, knowing he wouldn't lie.

Hook grimaced. "I knew he'd been a Lost Boy since Tink came to me in Neverland... the rest I learnt here, when I was looking for ways to destroy my Crocodile." He reached for her again, wrapping his hand around her cheek. "I would have told you sooner, but I was concerned the effect it might have what with everything that was happening to you. I told you I would tell you when you had it under control. And I have."

"You call this under control?" she almost laughed.

"You're not floating are you?" he pointed out. "Your shadows still attached... and you didn't blast me to kingdom come." He reached for her chin with his hook, lifting it gently. "Have I lied to you Emma?" he threw those words back at her now, the same words he'd aimed at her in desperation as she left him tied at the mercy of a giant so long ago now.

"No." She admitted grudgingly, wanting to take him to task for keeping it from her since Neverland, but wondering if it had even been an option... had he even remembered it most of the time there? And he was right, she hadn't exactly been stable since they'd gotten back, and she had made him promise to keep her from slipping back into Neverland. He'd followed her instructions to the letter and then some.

Hook tried again, "If I could have undone this, unlearnt it, I would have." He promised, and she believed him. "But this wasn't my doing Emma."

"And Henry?" she bit back sharply, the crux of her real rage toward him coming to a head again.

Hook looked like he was chewing on something unpleasant. "The boy has the right to know his father, even if he was a deadbeat." Emma blinked, fury building again. "You lied to Henry about his father too. He may not forgive you that." He added, twisting the knife that little bit deeper. "This would have all come out in the wash Emma, with or without me. All I did was ensure your safety when it happened. Because like it or not, Rumple will protect you now, he will protect his Grandson, even if it's only to rebuild a relationship with his own son. I did that. I made sure the boy was safe... I made sure you were."

Emma felt his thumb brushing her cheek and wished that she wasn't soothed by it, wished she was strong enough to push him away and stalk out of his life forever. But she could see his twisted logic in all of this, the belief in his words, in his actions as he desperately tried to keep her in his arms. Was it his fault that her family tree was even more screwed up than she knew? Neil had been her choice, long before she'd met Killian... clearly she was just fate's bitch.

"Do me a favour Killian." She leant in close. "Stop trying to save me." But the anger had bled out of her and it just came out more exasperated than anything else.

Hook smirked. "Never." He kissed her again and she resisted, catching his chin and pushing him back.

"Don't think I'm over this Killian." She warned. "You and I are nowhere near done here." She stalked over to the bed and grabbed a pillow tossing it heavily at his head. "You are sleeping on the floor... possibly indefinitely." She stalked past him, stopping one last time to spin on him her finger raised threateningly. "And if you ever call Henry a brat again..." she leant in close, "I'll give your hand a matching stump for a leg."


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Emma made her way slowly up the steps of Regina's Manor, trying not to let her unease show as she wrapped heavily on the door. The last few days had been... difficult. Killian had seemed to haunt her shadow, his eyes following her everywhere. She understood his position, just as he understood hers, but it didn't make it any easier, or lessen the idea that he had betrayed her in some way by inflicting this reunion with Neal on Henry. Something she had most definitely never wanted.

But she had stayed with him on the ship, however furious she was, she'd stayed. For her that was quite a concession and one that she was still struggling with. Apparently she really was in love with that insufferable pirate, enough to excuse him this at any rate, if not to forgive him just yet, and most definitely not to forget that whatever he was, he was still a dangerous man that she might never entirely be able to trust, certainly not when it came to her son.

However, there was the issue of this dinner. Regina had invited her, despite her actions, that wasn't a gesture you just threw back.

Regina opened her front door, an apron in place and a tight smile on her face. "Miss Swan." She greeted. There was nothing in the other woman's expression that gave away the events between them only a few days ago. She looked her same haughty, completely unflappable self.

"Maybe you should try calling me Emma." Emma countered, trying not to notice the way Regina's eyes shone in the reflected street lights, or the curve of her lips... she looked enticing in a way that Emma was distinctly uncomfortable with, which made her think that it wasn't entirely 'her' doing. Apparently magic was potent... and it liked company.

"Oh I think we have gotten as familiar with each other as we're ever going to be _Miss_ _Swan_." Regina drawled, making her position on their incident quite clear with her well placed barb.

"About the other night..." Emma tried, but was cut off as Regina held her hand up.

"The other night was an accident. One we won't be repeating. Apparently scotch does not agree with your magic my dear." Her eyes narrowed and Emma got the distinct impression that this subject was closed to discussion. "Henry's waiting Miss Swan, the Lasagne's almost ready, why don't you come in and take a seat." It wasn't a suggestion, so Emma walked past her, making sure not to touch an inch of the other woman as she did so and trying not to feel trapped as the door closed heavily behind her.

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The dinner went better than she expected, she and Regina kept it civil, and deliberately banal with the absolute minimum of eye contact between them. Who knows perhaps their little 'accident' would turn out to be a good thing for keeping them both in line. Henry seemed thrilled that the two of them were getting along, and that he had his mom's lasagne. It seemed that Snow and Charming weren't quite the domestic Goddess's the former Mayor was. But as the night drew on, Emma began to fidget; there was a reason she had agreed to come here, other than to simply honour Regina's rather gracious invitation.

"Henry." Emma began as she swallowed the last of her water, if nothing else she was swearing off alcohol whilst in Regina's presence. He looked up at her, finishing the last of his apple pie with relish.

"Everything ok? Did you like the food, mom's..." he looked guilty, "I mean 'Regina's' lasagne is the best."

Emma spared a glance at Regina, who hadn't so much as flinched at his slip, or what Emma could only imagine was his painful correction. Poor kid, he didn't actually seem to dare call any of his three would be mother's 'mom'.

"It was great. It seems Regina is a woman of many skills." She gave Regina a smile which seemed to raise a blush to her cheeks and Emma stored that away for later, because clearly whether she wanted to talk about it or not, their little 'accident' was clearly in the Queen's thoughts, which despite whatever the magic inside of her was insisting, was really not something Emma cared to repeat.

"I need to tell you something." Emma admitted. "Both of you really, after all Regina, it does effect you to. And for that, I am surprisingly sorry." Regina blinked, looking a little uneasy at that confession, as if she sensed Emma was about to upset their little 'almost' domestic bliss.

"Henry." Emma stared at him from her position across the table, willing him to hear her out. "Do you remember what I told you about your dad?"

Henry paused, sharing a look with Regina and then back to her, his mounting confusion obvious. "You said he was fireman; that he died in a fire, a hero."

Emma swallowed. "I lied." The word seemed to echo in the large open dining room.

Henry went still. "Why?" Which was better than she was expecting from him she'd half expected tears and tantrums and maybe the remnants of his pie in her face.

"Because I thought you deserved better than the truth." Emma admitted, trying to ignore Regina's look, which was a hairs breath away from dragging her out of there to stop her from what she clearly knew was going to hurt her son.

"And what is the truth?" Henry bit out, sounding a lot like his adoptive mother in that moment when she got all snide.

"That your father was a dirtbag who knocked me up and then framed me for a crime he committed, which is how I ended up giving birth to you in prison." Emma sighed, it sounded so much more 'Jerry Springer' when you said it all like that. Henry's eyes were wide and glassy.

"Why would he... I don't understand?" Henry managed and Regina moved, grasping his hand firmly and squeezing tightly.

"Because people are complicated Henry. Which is exactly why I imagine Emma felt it best not to tell you the truth. Sometimes a white lie, to protect the people you care about, is a kindness." Regina gave her a nod, she saw again 'for Henry' reflected in her features, apparently turning him against Emma, despite this golden opportunity wasn't in the kids best interest any longer.

Henry looked supremely unconvinced and confused. "Why are you telling me now then?"

Emma sighed, looking down at the table and drawing strength before she met his accusatory eyes again. "I'd like to say it's because I thought you were old enough to know the truth. But that's not why, even if it is true." Emma admitted. "I found out something the other day, something that..." she paused struggling for words, "Upset me." She settled on. "Something about your dad." She gave Regina a look, trying to convey that it was shortly after their little 'accident' but she seemed intent on Henry. "I realised how it felt to have a secret kept from you. So, I've decided to share it with you. If you want to hear it." Emma offered, still half hoping he'd just say 'no, I don't need to hear it'.

"You think it's going to hurt me?" Henry questioned, and she admired his ability to see straight to the heart of an issue.

"It hurt me." Emma admitted. "But I have a feeling you'll find out one way or another and at least this way, it's your decision... and you are a lot stronger than me Henry, I think you can handle it kiddo."

Henry nodded, clearly thinking. "I hate that you lied to me." He admitted, staring at her like she had disappointed him again. "But I guess I can see why you would... but I'd rather know the truth." He gave them both a look that suggested he thought it was a little rich that they were both the ones asking.

Emma shared a look with Regina, wondering if the other woman could handle it. "Your dad's name is Neal Cassidy, he lives in New York and he was once a Lost Boy." Emma steeled herself. "But he was born in the Enchanted Forest... his real name is Baelfire and he is Rumplestiltskin's son." See it was easy when you said it all in one breath like that, simple.

Regina went white as a sheet, their eyes met and Emma could see the utter devastation taking route there as she made the rather unsettling connections.

"No, I had no idea." Emma pre-empted the question. "Nor did Gold" Emma added seeing Regina's rage bubbling to the surface. "Apparently this was all just one big cosmic twist of fate that no one was in on."

"Does that make Mr Gold my Grandpa?" Henry asked, causing Regina's eyes to go wide as she stared at Emma for horrified confirmation.

"I'm afraid so kiddo. Who knew you'd end up with the full set." She shrugged trying to make light of it.

"Why are you telling us this?" Regina sounded shocked, her composure slipping.

"Because apparently, that piece of my soul you'd said Gold would want for this," she indicated he pendant around her neck, "It involves me, Henry, Gold and Neal having a nice little family reunion."

"Absolutely not." Regina stood and Emma cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Then you go tell him that." Emma bit back. "The man created me and the curse that you used to devastating effect for the sole purpose of retrieving his son from this world. But by all means, go and tell him that now he's found him, you are going to stand in his way. Because even Captain Hook chickened out of doing that." Emma hated that she sounded quite so bitchy, but it seemed to get the point across as Regina sat back down in her seat slowly.

"Thought not." Emma muttered, fingering the blasted pendent that had apparently cost her more than any of them had been willing to give.

"I take it then that Hook uncovered this nice little web of intrigue?" Regina bit back, clearly trying to recover herself enough to make a pointed jab at an obvious sore spot.

Emma smiled thinly back at her. "Oh he's been dealt with for his part in this." Emma assured her. "But I suppose we should thank him. Apparently Gold now has a vested interest in keeping his Grandson safe and well. Family ties and all that being so important to him."

"Have you told your parents?" Regina pressed, Henry was watching them, his head turning back and forwards like they were playing a tennis match.

"No. I thought that would be a conversation that might stretch my already shaky control just that bit too far. But by all means, feel free to share this delightful bit of news with them. I'm sure they'll be thrilled that our family has grown in ever new and more complicated ways." Emma was falling apart, she could feel it. So apparently could Regina, she stood, making to reach for her and Emma recoiled, almost falling back out of her seat in her urgency not to touch the other woman. Regina stopped, her hand falling back to her side in a fist, her face clearly expressing her own disbelief at her almost foolishness.

"What's going on!" Henry was on his feet, staring between the two of them, Emma staring up at Regina like a deer in the headlights and Regina standing above her, motionless, both of them ignoring his question.

"I should be going." Emma managed, trying to calm her breathing as she clambered to her feet, trying to ignore the way her chest seemed to burn where the pendant sat, growing ever heavier as it desperately tried to leash whatever was trying to claw its way out of her.

"Emma wait!" Henry shot up out of his seat and hugged her fiercely. "Why do you have to go?"

Emma stared at Regina across his head, swallowing thickly and resolving not to lie to him. "Because I'm not safe Henry. I hurt Regina by accident the other night. I'm not always in control of this thing inside me... this magic."

"But, Regina said you were doing well, that you were making progress?" he looked between the two of them, searching for the truth somewhere in what still seemed to be their lies.

"I am... but 'well' is kind of a relative term Henry. My shadow's attached and I'm not floating off to Neverland, but I'm still not safe, not when I'm upset." She admitted stroking his hair. "Your mother's a great teacher, but apparently I'm not that great a student." Emma smiled softly at him, she didn't even realise until she saw the look on Regina's face that she'd called her his mother.

"Emma, you don't have to leave, you know I can control your magic while you're here, I can make sure you are no danger to Henry." Regina stepped forward, careful now to keep her distance.

"It's not Henry I'm worried about." Emma smiled thinly, surprised at the admission, mostly because it was the truth, Regina looked just as uneasy about it. "Look kiddo." Emma glanced down at Henry, "I know I just dumped a whole lot on your plate, and I gotta say you're taking it better than I did. Just like I knew you would." She admitted and he beamed, "But I owe Gold a debt, two in fact," she recalled unpleasantly the one she'd made with him before the curse had broken, "and he always collects. Which means that one day soon, you and I may have to take a trip to see your..." she couldn't call him 'dad', he was little more than a sperm donor, "Neal." She settled on, wondering if that was how Regina had felt about her, little more than a borrowed womb, showing up on her doorstep with the son she'd raised. She could imagine it had rankled.

Henry nodded. "Is it wrong to be kind of ok with that?" he asked looking guilty.

Emma smiled. "No kiddo, just try not to get your hopes up with him ok, I just don't want you getting hurt like I did."

Henry hugged her fiercely, she returned it, feeling an overwhelming surge of pride, she'd help make this incredible boy, even if her contribution was mostly genetic, who was brave and selfless and despite everything, he still saw the best in people. Perhaps she really should thank Hook, because having him so thoroughly reject her son had only made her cling to Henry tighter. He released her and ran upstairs, she heard the distinctive slam of his door and gave Regina a concerned look.

"He doesn't like to break down in front of people." Regina acknowledged staring up towards Henry's bedroom. "But given what he's just learnt, I think he took that remarkably well; better than either of us I'd wager."

Emma shook her head. "You have no idea." She muttered.

"So." Regina seemed to be digesting the news and not finding that it agreed with her, "I guess that makes Hook your Step-Father-In Law." Her smirk was satisfied as it clearly shocked Emma.

Emma blinked, she hadn't made that connection but she imagined Hook probably had, she wondered if that hadn't helped his rage at this situation any. But she was never one to let Regina get the last snarky word in, "Well I guess that means you two have something in common, given as you're technically my Step-Grandmother." Regina's eye twitched and Emma smirked, before recalling their little 'accident' and feeling suddenly green.

"I should go." Emma muttered by way of apology and turned abruptly.

"Miss Swan!" Regina called, coming after her intently, forcing Emma to turn back reluctantly. "May I ask exactly how this little excursion of Gold's is likely to occur, he was cursed after all, the moment he steps beyond the town line, he will forget himself."

Emma frowned. "I guess you need to ask him that, although knowing Gold, I'm sure he has a plan for that, I highly doubt he set all this up, just to let a little thing like a magic memory barrier stand between him and his bastard son." Ok so that was definitely bitter as she wrenched open the front door and turned to stalk away from the house.

"Emma." Regina called after her stopping her in her tracks once more with the use of her name. Knowing better but unable to resist Emma glanced back. "You did the right thing, telling him. There have been too many lies between us all." Regina seemed genuine.

Emma nodded, still not convinced that dropping another bomb into Henry's personal life was what anyone needed right now.

But Regina wasn't done, "When it happens. I'm going with you." She also wasn't asking.

Emma nodded. "Fair enough, but don't say I didn't warn you." She smiled thinly at her before leaving the former Mayor, former Evil Queen... whatever the hell she was now to deal with their son and the new fallout she'd unwittingly created in his life.


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

The vomiting was new, Emma wiped the back of her mouth with her hand, staring at her reflection in the mirror and trying to ignore the nagging part of her that told her it had nothing to do with a bad burrito at Granny's.

Emma opened the thin wooden door and came face to face with Hook, he stood arms crossed.

"Everything alright Love?" he questioned, but Emma saw the flash in his eyes and the curve of his lips, which caused her to feel a sweep of anger at his clear elation.

"Try not to look so god damn pleased." Emma snapped shoving past him.

Hook snorted. "The woman I love may be with child... forgive me for being justifiably jubilant."

"The woman you love is still royally pissed with you." Emma snapped, trying to ignore the way his words affected her, the way he was looking at her. It was far too tender for the Pirate Captain, particularly when she was still making him sleep on the hard wooden floor.

Hook approached her slowly, letting her hear him as he slipped his arm around her waist, pressing his hand against her still flat stomach and drawing her back into his chest. "Are you really going to tell me that the thought of carrying another child, my child, doesn't fill you with at least some measure of joy?" The thought of it terrified her. It was wrong place, wrong time, wrong guy all over again. At least that's what she tried to convince herself as he swayed them gently to music only he could hear, his lips pressing softly against her cheek. Willing her to give them this. But it wasn't that simple, she was far too screwed up for it to be.

Emma rolled her eyes, slipping out of his grasp. "Don't get ahead of yourself Captain." Emma bit out, she hadn't resolved herself to call him Killian again. "It was probably just a bad burrito." Denial was easier.

"That would make it a bad burrito three days in a row now." Hook quirked an eyebrow at her, the smirk dancing on the corners of his lips.

"I can't be pregnant." Emma muttered and Hook's eyes grew darker, she knew she was hurting him, but right now she was still too angry with him to care enough to stop. "Now isn't a good time, and you..." she pointed at him, "Are most definitely not fatherhood material."

"And Neal was?" Hook snarled, pissed now that she'd prodded the sore spot.

Emma sighed, despite her actions, she really didn't want to get into it right now, she had too much on her plate, not to mention that she really didn't think she was motherhood material either, as all the shit with Henry had already proven.

But it seemed Hook was more than happy to take her to task, his hands went around her biceps, pushing her back with enough force to surprise her as she sucked in a stunned breath. "What the hell!" she snarled, shoving at him, but he wasn't relenting.

"What's wrong?" He snarled, "Afraid I'll hurt the bad burrito?"

Emma felt her teeth draw back, this was the side of him she loathed. The side of him that had earned him his moniker and his Captaincy. "Are you threatened by a Little Lost Boy Hook." She smirked, "Is that it?" she leant into his face, inches from his lips which were contorted in a sneer. "What do you think is going to happen, that I'll stand in front of Neal, our son at my side and throw myself at him, demand that we become one big happy family!" Her derision seemed to make him blink; clearly it had been exactly what he was imagining.

Emma grasped his shirt, dragging him in close, "Let me make it clear to you," she bit out, "That bastard abandoned me, sent me to prison and shattered whatever part of my heart was learning to trust again." She felt anger giving her strength against the pendant as she spun them, slamming him up against the wall instead. "I am going to need every shred of self control I apparently _don't_ have, to stop myself from blasting him to pieces with my new found magic right in front of his son and father."

Hook's hand went around her throat, squeezing tightly; he never did like to be cornered, as his black eyes drilled a hole into her. His control was slipping, the thought of losing her, of losing everything he'd worked for, everything that they'd built was clearly affecting him in a less than pleasant way. "Would you like me to kill him Emma, slide my blade along his spine and carve out his heart for you?"

Emma stilled, feeling his fingers loosen their grip fractionally around her throat as he brushed his fingers lightly over the bruises she knew he'd have created. "Kill the Dark One's son?" Emma hissed, "Don't be such a fool." She didn't mention the 'don't tempt me' that was screaming inside of her.

Hook smirked. "That wasn't an outright 'no' Love." He reversed their positions again, so that she was pressed back against the wall, all traces of her earlier nausea and fatigue melting away as adrenalin flooded her and his knee slid between her thighs, trapping her and arousing her all at once. "It would be an elegant way to make him suffer Love, both of them. Rumple would be within touching distance of the very thing he's fought so hard to reach, only to see it torn from him. And Neal, he'd get one fleeting moment to see what he'd lost, to see what a wondrous opportunity he let pass him by because he was every inch the coward his father was, before it was ripped from him to." His body crushed against hers and he pressed his lips savagely against her neck, his teeth digging in.

"And Henry would be devastated." Emma tried not to let him hear the hitch in her breath as his hand grasped her ass, lifting her as his other, more dangerous hooked hand drew her leg up until she'd hitched it around his hip for fear of him slicing her flesh. "And you." She leant in, grasping his chin with her hand and running her finger along his bottom lip. "You'd be dead... your beating heart ripped from your chest and crushed to dust in Rumple's hand."

"Worth it, for the look on his face Love." Hook sneered, grinding his hips against her parted legs and making her moan almost wantonly, this had always been what the two of them did best, bickering at blade point and fighting their basest desires for one another. She might have been screwed up but even she knew it probably wasn't healthy.

"And where does that leave me?" Emma leant forward, taking his lower lip in her mouth and biting it until she'd drawn blood, sucking it into her mouth and trying not to think too hard on why exactly she enjoyed it when he asserted himself like the Pirate that he was. "Where does it leave the 'bad burrito'?" she added, quirking an eyebrow at him and finding it far too strange to be having this conversation with him, particularly given as she was still furious with him for his little scheme.

"The bastard gets to live." Emma ordered as she slid her arms around his neck, tugging on his hair in a way she knew he found hard to resist. "You get to help me keep my head and keep your heart in your chest. Life goes on. I know Neal he'll want nothing to do with Gold, or his son, he'll split."

Hook had slid his hand up her spine, drawing her shirt up as his tongue traced down the hollow of her throat. "He won't split Love." He rasped, sucking hard and making her buck sharply at the sensation. "Not when he see's you... what man in their right mind would give up the opportunity your delicious flesh presents." Emma had only a moment to enjoy the wanton rasp of his voice before he slid his hand down her pants and his fingers pushed violently into her centre making her arch and her legs tighten reflexively around his hips as he held her aloft.

"Don't tell me the great Captain Hook is having a crisis of confidence." Emma kissed him hard, his tongue slipping into her mouth and reminding her just how good he was with it. "You think you can't keep a woman?" she taunted and he gave a particularly deep thrust with his fingers that left her momentarily speechless, clearly proving his point. And god help her, but she wanted to keep him, keep this life whatever the hell it was they were trying to build together, if she could just get all this magic shit under control.

"Oh I'm not worried Love." Hook smirked, brushing his thumb over a particularly sensitive area that rolled her eyes back in her head. Without warning he withdrew his hand and dropped her legs, her jeans were down and kicked off in seconds as he shrugged off his own leather ones, lifting her and slamming himself home in one movement that stole her breath leaving her able to do little else but moan against his lips.

"A promise then Emma Love." He insisted, moving in hard sharp thrusts that gave her little chance to regain the breath he'd stole.

"All ears." She panted, clutching his shoulders through the thin material of his shirt to draw blood with her nails.

"The 'bad burrito' and I get a chance." He grasped her throat again, just the hint of a warning in the tightening of his fingers as he locked their gazes, but the intensity of it as always swallowed her whole and she found herself nodding as she let her head fall back against the wood behind her, giving in to the sensations that he was so very good at drawing out of her.

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"This is ridiculous." Gold snapped.

Emma snorted. "My car, my rules."

"The deal Miss Swan, was that you and Henry..." Gold began and Emma cut him off by swerving the car violently and causing his head to bounce off the glass with a satisfying thunk, accompanied by a squeal from Henry, a tut from Regina and a chuckle from Hook.

"Deals been adjusted." Emma snapped, losing patience with him as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, giving her a look that promised she'd pay for that.

Gold turned to give the backseat of the car a cursory once over, looking clearly disgruntled at the sight of Henry squeezed between Regina and Hook in the back of Emma's yellow bug. "So I see." He snarled. "Any other surprises I should be aware of?"

Emma gave him a sideways look. "I ate a bad burrito." He frowned and Emma smiled thinly at him. "If I feel the need to pull over, I'd give me a few minutes if I were you."

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The airport was a nightmare. Emma and Henry both stared at Regina, Hook and Gold and for a moment she was certain she and the kid were thinking the exact same thing. 'I'm not with them.'

"It's a body scanner." Henry sighed as he and Emma quietly and calmly removed their belts, shoes, jackets and popped their bags in the tray, waiting for the others to do the same.

"I fail to see what might be lethal about leather soles." Hook muttered as he slipped off the shoes she'd forced him to wear as part of a normal 20th Century guys outfit, of course she'd pretty much had to stick to black, black jeans, black shirt, he'd point blank refused to remove the leather jacket, but at least he was passing. Although the fuss he'd made when she'd removed his hook and stashed it in the hold baggage had been unpleasant. But she did understand it, she slid her hand along his stump which he kept hidden beneath the long sleeve of the black shirt, he suppressed a shudder meeting her gaze, it had taken him a long time to trust her enough to even see the damn thing without the hook, touching it still brought a shiver to him.

"You'll get it back when we land." She promised him and he nodded, running an inappropriate remaining hand to her ass.

Regina seemed to be dealing with the situation with far more grace, slipping her business suit jacket off and placing her handbag into the tray beside Henry's knapsack and leading him by the shoulder through in front of her. Apparently despite the fact that Regina technically hadn't been cursed she'd never felt the need or perhaps the guts to leave the safety of her curse controlled little town.

Gold was another matter entirely.

"Sir can you remove your scarf please." The airport security guard instructed the older man, who gave him an incredulous look as he gripped onto the enchanted object he'd used to allow him to pass through the town's barrier... Bae's shirt back from the Enchanted Forest.

Gold shared a look that Emma was certain was panic as the guards became insistent and he grew flustered. Emma grasped his arm, the spark of magic ignited inside of her and she sucked in a breath, wondering if everyone could see the blazing light that seemed to burn inside of her as it reached for Gold's. Emma fought to control it, stripping the scarf off his neck as he gripped her wrist too tightly, his eyes questioning. But her magic wasn't strong enough like this, here, with the pendant draining her.

"Don't let go." She bit out, pushing him in front of her as she tossed his scarf into the tray, followed by her pendent and sent them both through the machine. Apparently her magic worked just fine in the real world... Gold's clearly didn't as he'd demonstrated when he'd tried to take the wheel from her in the car earlier.

"Ma'am." The guard put his hand out to stop her.

"Sorry my father has an old war wound, and his cane is in the scanner, do you mind." She gave her most winningly innocent smile as she kept a tight grip on Gold's bicep, easing him through the metal detector in front of her and following him through as he almost stumbled, keeping her hand in contact with his shoulder. He looked a little shaky as Emma struggled to keep the magic connecting the two of them without hers reaching out and swallowing his whole.

The wait for the tray to materialise was agonising and his eyes were starting to roll back into his head as Emma reached for his tray, pulling the scarf out and draping it over his shoulders quickly as he straightened his back, returning to himself as she released her hold on him. Breathing a sigh of relief as her magic receded, coiling up inside of her like a spring waiting to burst free as she hastily dropped the pendant back around her own neck.

Gold gave her a startled look. "Thank you." He managed and she heard the genuine shake in it, perhaps he was a human being after all.

Hook's hand went down on her shoulder. "Everything ok here Love." He whispered, staring between their two locked gazes with avid curiosity.

"My father-in-law and I were just coming to an arrangement." Emma nodded at Gold, before stepping around him to retrieve her own items, watching as Henry began dragging Regina towards what looked like a Cinnabon's stand with clear delight.

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Emma suppressed a smirk, Hook was to her right, Gold to her left and both of them were trying to pretend that being in a flying metal death trap as Hook called it, wasn't scaring them both shitless. Regina turned around from the seat in front beside Henry and gave them both a cursory smug look, sharing a smirk with Emma.

"This is fun, isn't it?" Emma declared, "I do love a family holiday." both Hook and Gold gave her an incredulous look and both simultaneously grasped their armrests as the plane hit turbulence, trying not to turn as green as she imagined they both felt.

"Peachy." Gold bit out his eyes fixed ahead on the seat in front of him.

Hook gripped her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. "If it's all the same to you Love, I'd rather stick to pixy dust."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

Hook found he rather enjoyed this world, maybe not it's ridiculously unsafe methods of transport, but mostly what being in it once more clearly did to Emma as she strode confidently down the sidewalk of New York, giving him and others plenty to admire in her long black boots and that figure hugging coat of hers. Regina, the Boy and Rumple followed behind them, completely lost and trying to project the air of confidence the two former Evil rulers were used to exuding and coming up short. Both powerless here and reliant on the Saviour to protect and guide them.

That little fact hadn't escaped him and he turned back, giving Rumple a soft smile that promised much, his hooked appendage firmly in place once more and itching to carve the heart from his Crocodile's newly mortal chest.

Emma's arm slid into his and she drew her attention back to him. "Stop imagining it." She chastised him lightly, too quiet for the others to hear above Henry's excited babbling about the things he wanted to visit in New York.

"Imagining what Love?" he quirked an eyebrow at her innocently, knowing full well that she was as attuned to the inner workings of his twisted little mind as he was to hers.

"We have a deal with Gold. We don't break it and we all get to keep our hearts in our chests."

"He's powerless Love. Mortal. Seems like a hell of shame to waste such an opportunity." Her grip around his arm tightened and he saw her purse her lips in distaste for his vengeance and apparently his logic.

"I will not murder Henry's new found grandfather Killian." She hissed beneath her breath. "Besides, this deal was about keeping us all safe. Remember." She pointed out and he caught sight of the pendent resting against her heart. Emma was right of course, without Rumple's magic there was the very real possibility that he might still lose her to her own magic. Emma dropped his arm stalking ahead, apparently disgusted with his short sightedness and apparent lack of honor. From her, it rankled. He shot Rumple one last look, before shaking his head thoroughly trying to rid himself of the thoughts that fogged his mind, this had been his deal… his arrangement, he had to stick to it, it was the only way to keep Emma safe, to give her the things she claimed she wanted.

Emma stopped abruptly outside an apartment, staring back at him. "Is this the place?"

Hook eyed it, glancing at the surrounding landmarks and comparing it to the Pixie's description. "Aye Love, this is it."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth was a figure leaping from the metal ladders surrounding the building, his face concealed with a hood as he landed heavily and took off on foot.

"I think he remembers you Love." Hook quipped, seeing Emma's stunned look, before she took off after him, Hook hot on her heels.

"Emma!" Rumple roared behind them, "You bring him back to me… bring him back!"

Hook snorted in derision at the desperation in the pathetic Crocodile's voice as his only flesh and blood fled from the very thought of him. It was poetic.

The little bastard Lost Boy was fast, but he was clearly out of shape, and Emma, the lass was in her prime, she was gaining ground. But Hook was no slouch either, and unfamiliar though he might have been with terrain, he'd had always had a knack for geography, for maps, he saw the city as the crow flies, his sharp eyes taking in the curve of the streets, the movement of the people. He veered down a side alley trusting his well honed instincts as he emerged just ahead of Emma. But they were beginning to draw attention as they flew after the hooded figure ahead of them; they had to end this, now. Hook indicated to Emma with the short hand they had developed out of necessity, that they needed to flank him.

Emma nodded and he felt a swell of pride as they split up, before converging down a blind alley just in time for him to see her flying tackle, which was truly a thing of beauty, as she send the bastard thudding to the floor face first as she rolled to her feet. But Hook was right there with her delivering a blow to Neal's midsection that kept him down as Hook dropped to his knees, placing one firmly at Neal's throat and applying his weight to the struggling fool.

Neal's eyes went wide as he registered the face of his assailant.

"Hook?" he all but hissed, renewing his struggle as Hook sneered back at him.

"It's _Captain_ Hook actually." He raised his glinting blade in threat. "Baelfire I presume."

"You bastard, you killed my mother!" the idiot bucked, which only succeeded in cutting off his air supply beneath Hook's knee further.

"Your dear sweet Papa tell you that?" Hook mocked, "Because he was just a picture of honesty wasn't he?" he taunted, trying to ignore the pain the memories stirred. "I loved your mother." Hook leant in close the curved blade in front of Baelfire's face. "Your Papa killed her, ripped her heart from her chest in a fit of jealous rage and crushed it into dust, giving me this fetching stump as a reminder. Your hate is misplaced boy."

Baelfire blinked and Hook felt a swell of satisfaction, Rumple would not sway him so easily now with that little secret laid bare finally. But Baelfire's attention was already diverted as Hook felt Emma sidle up beside him, her hand going to his shoulder, it looked like a gesture of support, but Hook could sense her warning in it.

"Emma?" and suddenly he was Neal again and Hook eased up on the throttling, hating the way this sap was looking at her, the honest to god surprise matched with the forlorn look of a man seeing an apparition before him . "Hey." He managed weakly.

"Hey?" Emma snarled, all but shoving Hook out of the way as she went to grab Neal and Hook found himself blocking her halfheartedly from doing something he was unfortunately certain she would regret. "That's all you have to say to me… hey!" she all but shrieked, making to lunge at him again, but Hook grasped her arms tightly, releasing his grip on Neal, trusting his shock to keep him in place.

"Easy Love." Hook warned, they might have been in a blind back alley but that didn't mean they were alone, anyone might come across them.

"You son of a bitch!" Emma swore at Neal, the full force of her years of fury and heartbreak landing solidly on him, the bastard at least had the good sense to flinch at it. "You set me up." She pointed violently at him, "I went to prison because of you!" the pain in those words threatened to force Hook into action, his Love was in pain and he so longed to put an end to it.

"Emma, please," Neal was sitting up on his elbows, looking like he wanted to back away from the clearly seething woman that Hook was only half restraining from tearing him to shreds. "You don't understand; I had no choice…" he all but spluttered, having the nerve to look angry at her.

"Oh I understand it perfectly." Emma raged and Neal swallowed, looking to Hook for a brief moment of support and finding nothing but blankness from him.

But Neal wasn't apparently taking it entirely lying down as he struggled to his feet, his hands out, trying to placate her, as if that stood a hope in hell of calming her. "Your Guardian, Pinocchio confronted me, told me point blank he knew who and what I was, and who you were, that I had to leave you, give you up to give you your best chance. That I couldn't be selfish with you, that you had a destiny that I was standing in the way of." He looked up at her through big soulful eyes and Hook snorted in derision, what sort of a fool gave up the woman he loved because it was 'difficult' on the word of a man he'd just met. 'Pathetic'.

"That's it… that's your excuse?" Emma snarled, sounding as impressed with that pathetic excuse as Hook felt.

"And when you sent me to prison… pregnant, did you think you were giving our son his best chance?" The words were like a bomb and Hook tried not to revel in the devastation on the other man's face, on the satisfaction Emma was drawing in this cathartic release far too long in the waiting.

"I have a son?" Neal asked weakly, his legs looking shaky as he made a hesitant step towards Emma, who shrugged Hook loose, grasping the front of Neal's shirt with intent and drawing their faces inches from one another.

"No. _I _have a son!" Emma all but screamed at him, "Or I should say _had_." Neal blinked dismay breaking through the shock to spread across his features, "I was forced to give him up; prison is no place to raise a child." Emma's voice had grown low and cold with her fury now after her sudden outburst, her knuckles grew white with the grip she had on his shirt front. "Funny how things work out though isn't it… he ended up in Storybrooke anyway, adopted by the Evil Queen, who by the way is back at your apartment right now, with his Grandfather, the Dark One. That's a hell of a family you inflicted on him."

"Emma please…" Neal pleaded, but clearly Emma's patience had snapped, because her fist snapped out, backhanding Neal, he stumbled bringing his finger up to his lip, surprised to see blood. Emma's second punch was a solid right hook that sent him to the ground, out cold.

Emma stood over his sprawled form breathing heavily and looking pale. "I'm going to be sick." She muttered, before staggering to the side of the alley and throwing up violently against the side of the dumpster. Hook turned away, giving her privacy under the pretence of checking Neal's pulse, he half hoped she'd killed the bastard, just so he could see the look on Rumple's face and spare Emma any further hurt this buffoon's words caused.

But as Emma returned he forgot such thoughts, wrapping his arms around her and offering her the meagre comfort he imagined his arms to be, she sunk it his embrace, the shake from her rage slowly abating as he pressed a kiss to her hair, trying not to see the flecks of starlight that remained, tauntingly.

"That _bad_ _burrito_ still giving you some bother Love?" she let out a half choked sob, half laugh as she pulled back to look at his face, finding it nothing but serious.

"Not now." She whispered, stroking his cheek and wincing as it flexed her clearly sore knuckles, he reached out for them, seeing the signs of the bruise starting as he kissed them tenderly. Emma turned back to Neal's unconscious form, giving him a withering look, her anger clearly still present, if albeit leashed whilst he was out and not able to speak.

"So this was the love of your life I was competing for your heart against?" Hook quirked a disbelieving eyebrow his lips twisting into a derisive sneer at her exasperated look. "I'm prettier." He shrugged seeing her roll her eyes, but not disagreeing.

"Shut up Pirate. Help me with him." Emma sighed, sounding weary now as she extracted her shiny silver manacles and rolled Neal over, slapping them around his wrists and locking them together tightly. He really needed to get her to bring those home more often Hook noted.

Together they frog marched his slowly coming back to consciousness form back to his apartment where the others were waiting. Henry and Gold both started speaking at once and Emma held her hand up, cutting them both off with a look.

"Not now." She muttered, holding out the keys she'd retrieved from Neal's pocket and handing them to Henry. "Go let us into his apartment." She instructed. Gold clearly didn't think this instruction applied to him because he was right in her face.

"What the hell did you do to him Miss Swan." He snarled, his lips curled up into a truly unpleasant sneer, his cane raised. But Hook had no need to interfere. Emma leant forward, her eyes almost incandescent as she got right in the Dark One's face.

"I bought him back." She hissed. "So I suggest you thank me and get inside before someone questions our intentions with the partially conscious handcuffed man we've just dragged through downtown New York." Gold paused, seeming to give their surroundings a once over and swallowing whatever threat he was clearly desperate to issue as he followed Regina and Henry inside.

Hook and Emma simultaneously seemed to make the decision to toss him through the open apartment door, letting him sprawl, groaning on his own floor as Regina hastily closed it, looking down at the man at her feet like she was uncertain what all the fuss was about.

Emma caught the look and smiled thinly. "I was young." She snapped in clear embarrassment, stalking around his muttering form to his kitchen like she owned the place and retrieving a bag of frozen veg she'd found in his freezer and wrapping it around her hand.

"Bae." Rumple was down on one knee, trying to rouse his son.

"Papa?" Neal looked up a little groggily, the fog clearing almost instantly as he tried to scoot away from the Dark One, before realising his hands were bound and his legs were still too shaky to be trying it. "What the hell?" he managed, clearly still unclear as to how he ended up here. His eyes fell on Henry who was stood, Regina's hand tightly around his shoulder and staring at him with big wide eyes.

"So you're my dad." The kid managed, looking supremely disappointed and gripping onto Regina's hand like a lifeline.

Hook actually felt a small amount of pity for the poor sap as he knelt there looking like he'd been clubbed around the head by a bat, rather than Emma's fist. "I..." he opened his mouth but words seemed to fail him.

Emma stalked forward. "Neal, Baelfire, whatever the hell your name is, this is Henry and this charming woman is Regina Mills, The Evil Queen, she's raised him in our absence for the past ten years and was mostly against this meeting." Emma smiled thinly at Rumple. "Introductions made, your son delivered. That's _two_ of my debts paid Gold, we're done." Her expression was heavy with warning as she stared down the shorter man who inclined his head, looking as shocked as his son that this was actually happening.

"Agreed Miss Swan." Rumple managed, his voice thick, Hook felt his arm twitch... now would be the moment, _his _moment, all he had to do was take it. But Emma was beside him, her hand ghosting up his spine to the base of his skull, her fingers sliding into his short hair with gentle insistence to draw his attention back to her.

"How about we leave father and son to this charming little reunion." She held his gaze for a second, her eyes held a promise, that she would make it up to him, if he just abandoned his revenge, let the sleeping crocodile lie. Hook nodded once, imperceptibly, his eyes fell to Baelfire... to the idiot that had failed to put Emma first, the one who'd let her go, he wouldn't make that same pitiful mistake. It was his Crocodile or Emma. It was the easiest decision he'd ever made.

Emma turned to Henry, "How about I take you to this great little pizza place I know Kiddo." She wasn't asking and even the Boy had the sense to nod, his eyes still lingering on his newly discovered father, who was trying to avoid his gaze.

"I want to talk to him." Henry protested mildly as Regina led him to the door, clearly deciding that maybe Emma wasn't the mother to approach in this instance.

"Later." Regina insisted, guiding him out and not giving the disaster behind her a second glance. "One father son reunion at a time Henry."


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE**

Emma sat trying to resist the urge to knock Neal out cold again, fortunately Regina seemed to be sharing the same sentiment and they shared a knowing look that bought a small smile to Emma's lips as she tried to tune out the 'bonding'.

Henry despite her warnings seemed quite taken with his father, much like he had with her it seemed dear old dad was his new exciting obsession; Neal himself seemed relatively unscathed after his little one on one session with Gold even if he was sporting quite a shiner and a split lip that Emma found she was quite proud of. Neither man had really spoken about what happened, but when they'd come back that night, Neal was still there, his handcuffs were gone and they seemed to be talking however stiltedly. It seemed Gold was pleased with that arrangement, he had even sidled up to her and given her arm a gentle squeeze muttering a quiet 'thank you' that seemed to be for her ears only.

But that didn't help settle the unease she was feeling about the whole ugly situation or her apparent continued involvement in it. Neal was making arrangements to travel back to Storybrooke with them for a short visit. Apparently the asshole had convinced some poor sap of a woman that he was a decent human being and gotten engaged, it caused a flash of jealousy that Emma shoved aside rapidly, she wanted nothing from Neal, but it still stung that she had apparently not been worth the same.

Neal himself seemed apprehensive, a little confused perhaps, but genuinely thrilled to be talking animatedly with Henry and clearly the prospect of meeting his Gold's new girlfriend which according to Henry and Neal seemed to prove that he wasn't quite the monster they'd all assumed he was; not if he was able to love something.

Emma had no idea that Gold had a girlfriend and she wasn't convinced that the whole Beauty and the Beast thing coming true was quite as cute in person, given as Gold was still pretty beastly on the inside as far as she was concerned; but clearly in her absence the newly 'found' she read between the lines and glares 'released from Regina's imprisonment' Belle had rekindled her old romance with Gold. Hook had just snorted derisively at her ignorance of this, muttering something about it being one of the many plans he'd let fall by the wayside. Of course he knew. He knew every dirty little secret the town held apparently. If she ever did return to her job as Sheriff she made a mental note to deputise him.

Then there was her little issue... Emma bolted to the bathroom, emptying the contents of her recent meal into the bowl with more than a little annoyance. "Shit." She muttered, washing her mouth out and splashing water on her face as she stared at the bathroom mirror. What the hell was she supposed to do about the 'bad burrito'? Granted seeing Hook alongside the man that had so thoroughly crushed her heart and trust the last time had shifted things into perspective a little. Compared to Neal, Hook was most definitely the 'bad boy'... how the hell did that make him the better choice? But it did, Emma bowed her head, staring at her still flat stomach as she brushed it lightly. He wanted this, wanted her, and he most definitely wasn't going to be running out on her any time soon. And he was prettier she smirked to herself in the mirror, Neal hadn't aged nearly as well in 300 years it seemed.

Of course it was too much to ask that her swift exit go unnoticed, Gold met her at the door, Hook had somehow become caught up in the talk about Neverland with the boys and was for once paying her no 'apparent' attention, although with him that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't aware of everything going on behind him, but either way, she had no excuse but to stare the older man down and deal with him on her own.

"Feeling unwell Miss Swan?" He smiled sympathetically, but she saw right through it into his prying eyes, eyes that reminded her of Neal's... perhaps that's why she'd known right of the bat not to trust him.

"Like I said, I had bad burrito yesterday." Emma smiled thinly back at him, not giving him the chance to say anything further as she pushed past him. But he grasped her arm at her bicep firmly, leaning in to her ear a flare of magic igniting inside of her and rushing outwards towards Gold's.

"Your 'bad burrito' is a girl."

His whispered words sent a shiver right down Emma's spine and she turned meeting his knowing and surprisingly gentle smirk head on, apparently her recent actions had earned her some measure of respect or goodwill in his eyes, because she was almost certain that he wasn't telling her to try and use it against her. That wasn't exactly encouraging, because she had no idea what he thought he was getting out of telling her what she already suspected.

"I'll bare that in mind." Emma nodded, trying to dismiss it, still not quite willing to think of this as real... or a girl no less. Her heart did a little flutter that she dismissed as she tried to shrug Rumple off, but he didn't release her instead his eyes dropped to her chest and Emma bristled before she realised he was looking at the enchanted pendant around her neck.

"You need to remove that." he informed her quietly, his words for her ears only, which she at least appreciated, the last thing she wanted was to add 'this' to the drama in the room.

Emma pulled her arm free, feeling the familiar buzz of the connection to his magic fading as her pendant took hold of her leash again. "Convenient Gold." She snarled, not believing a word, "Now that you've got what you want and I've served my purpose you want it back." Emma leant in until they were nose to nose. "Read my lips... bite me." After the doozy of a deal they had to make to get her the damn thing in the first place, its fallout still fresh, she was hardly in the mood for him to test her.

But Gold wasn't done, Emma heard him following her as she stalked back into the room. "Miss Swan, I don't think you're listening to me."

Emma ignored him, heading over to Regina, who right now was looking better company than the table which her asshole of an ex was sat at, or his creep of a father hobbling along behind her.

"The baby will die if you continue to wear that pendant!" Gold's words rang through the air dangerously, sounding eerily like a threat.

Emma met Hook's eyes first as he stood slowly from his seat, his face schooled into a mask that had been just a fraction too slow to hide the flash of fear she'd seen reflected there.

"What baby?" Henry was quicker than anyone else and Emma tried not to look at him, instead turning in fury on Gold.

"How dare you!" Emma snarled, stalking towards him, but Hook was in front of her, stopping her from doing the very same rash thing she'd been trying to prevent him doing since they left Storybrooke.

"You're pregnant Miss Swan?" Regina's voice chimed in from behind and Emma glanced back noticing she was at Henry's side, who looked more than a little confused, but not necessarily as upset as she had worried he might be.

"That is none of your business... any of you." Emma seethed, pointing her finger at Gold. "I helped you, and this is how you repay me?"

Gold was expressionless. "It's because you helped me Dearie that I'm telling you this. The pendant is suppressing your magic the only way it can, by suppressing your life force. They are one in the same you see." Emma felt her stomach sink, and Hook slid his arm around her waist, she was in half a mind to bat him away, but right now she really did want his support, but Gold wasn't done, "Normally, whilst I wouldn't recommend this form of suppression as a permanent solution, it is relatively harmless. But add a developing foetus into the mix..."

"Emma," Regina moved to stand beside her, trying to break her eye line to Gold. "He's not lying, you should have told me you were pregnant, I wouldn't have pushed you so hard during the sessions." She went to reach for her arm, before she reconsidered, clearly remembering what had happened the last time. Who knew, apparently the Evil Queen really was a sucker for babies.

Emma gave Regina a sideways look. "Trust me this is a fairly recent development, and forgive me but I didn't think we were quite up to that level of girl talk." It came out snide, but she did appreciate the woman confirming Gold's assessment because she sure as hell wasn't taking his word for it, which was slightly disturbing because it meant that somewhere along the line she'd actually started trusting Regina's word...

Henry grasped her hand, tugging at her until she had no choice but to give him her undivided attention. "You're really having another kid?" he asked hesitantly, his eyes falling on Hook, "With _him_?" he all but accused giving Emma pause, she'd no idea he wasn't particularly fond of Hook but Henry's eyes flicked back to his newly found father who at least had the good sense to stay quiet in all of this and she got the sinking feeling associated with understanding his pre-teen brain. Clearly he had been entertaining the ridiculous notion that his biological parents might get back together and they could all be a real family. His next few words confirmed it. "What about Neal?" he pressed, tugging her hand as if he wanted to try and pull her towards him.

Emma held her footing, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry kid, trust me, I know what it's like to suddenly find your parents again and have them both in the same room... but Neal and I are most definitely not going to have a happy ending." She wished she could have sugar coated it, but she'd promised herself not to lie to him again.

Henry looked crestfallen. "So... he wasn't your True Love?" he asked hesitantly.

"I _loved_ Neal." Emma told him honestly, putting the emphasis on the past tense as she bent down to him grasping his chin and trying to make him understand that just because she didn't love his father, didn't mean she didn't love him. "And I love you, remember, I broke the curse for you." Which she thought should have convinced him, but she underestimated his feeling of rejection in this she tried to stroke his cheek but he flinched out of her reach back into Regina.

"_Now_, but what about then?" he accused, "You gave me away; you didn't love me enough to keep me." Henry argued, sounding close to tears.

"Henry..." Emma tried, wanting to argue but he had already dissolved into tears and buried his face in Regina's midsection as her arms enveloped him. Emma opened her mouth and closed it again futility there really was nothing to say, how she was supposed to fix this? Because Henry was right, she hadn't loved him enough to keep him that was the whole point. She'd been so selfish and caught up in her own bitterness that all she'd seen when she looked at him was his father's betrayal and her shattered dreams. Regina shook her head violently warning her against another word, leading Henry away to the bedroom and shutting the door cutting off the sounds of his sobs as she did exactly what a mother was supposed to do and comforted her son.

Emma felt nauseous, only this time morning sickness had nothing to do with it, the pain in her chest blossomed and the pendant around her neck blazed as she crashed to her knees, clutching her arms around herself as she fought to keep a lid on what her emotions were sending into turmoil. Hook's arms were around her, keeping her as grounded as he could. "Easy Love, easy, breathe." He instructed, whispering soft calming words into her ear.

"Take the pendant off her, now!" Gold roared, striding forward as if to do it himself. Hook raised his hooked appendage to him, warning him away. Gold sneered back, cautious with his newly mortal body. "Much as it would give me great pleasure to see your heart shattered once more Killian Jones, I have no wish to see harm come to Miss Swan, now take that blasted thing off her before it kills them both."

Hook raised her chin, but she was barely able to focus on him, "Do it." She hissed, he needed no further encouragement, tearing it off her chest and stuffing it inside his own shirt rather than placing it in Gold's outstretched hand Emma noted with mild satisfaction. The familiar weight was lifted and Emma sagged, trying to slow her breathing against the burning sensation that was exploding in her chest. Hook's hand cupped her face, drawing her to him.

"Emma." Regina's voice startled her out of her focus on Hook as she emerged from the bedroom with the commotion. "Try and remember what we have been working on. Pour that energy into something constructive." She was stood hands on her hips, like the expectant school mistress that Emma had started to see her as during their sessions, before the 'accident' which she really wanted to just forget all about. Henry was stood in the doorway, apparently their argument momentarily forgotten now that she was in trouble. "Try conjuring a hat again dear, you know how much you like to do that."

Emma stared at her through a growing haze of her rampant magic, trying to school her mind into forming one cohesive thought and pushing it into existence. The hat formed, drawing her energy into it like a cyclone, until it was spinning like a demented top, but it was working, it was getting easier to think, the mass inside of her subsiding as she gave over to the sensation of funneling it all into creation.

The energy left her, ramping down to manageable levels that she hastily slapped a lid on inside of her as she sat back on her knees, staring at the still pulsating top hat which was quietly spinning, a purple haze beginning to envelope it. For the first time since she returned from Neverland, Emma didn't feel like she was going to explode... she actually felt, more herself, whoever the hell that was now.

"Cool." Henry moved as if to touch it and Gold grasped him sharply by the back of his shirt, all but tossing him back into Regina with a look of derision as if he couldn't believe someone who shared his genetics was really that stupid.

"I wouldn't do that Dearie." Gold warned at their all rather stunned looks, his eyes on the hat like it was poisonous.

"Gold, what the hell do you think you're..." Regina started.

"Oh I'm sorry, I take it you would have preferred it if Henry was transported to god knows wherever that thing would have taken him." Gold finished.

Emma frowned, reaching for the hat against the protestations of the others, but they were too slow as she grasped the still slowly spinning thing in her hands, the purple haze dissipated and it was just a hat again... In fact it was just like Jefferson's, again. Damn him, he'd really given her a hat fixation with this damn thing after her little experiences in his mansion. Maybe she'd been scarred for life by his complete insanity.

"My god." Regina managed weakly, "Did she just..."

"Oh yes." Gold was smiling, but it was so wide Emma wasn't sure it wasn't more of a grimace. "It would seem that the Mad Hatter is no longer the only one in possession of a portal device."

Emma frowned, looking between the two of them and both she, Hook and Neal, seemingly asking the same question as one.

"What?"

But Emma got a sinking feeling as she felt a soft buzz of power coming steadily from the hat clutched in her hands.

Gold sighed. "Your magic is a raw and potent thing Miss Swan, much like the magic of True Love that birthed it. It would seem that you have created the impossible, a second Portal Hat."

"How do you know it's not just the Mad Hatters?" Henry piped up, "Maybe she just transported it here?" he might have been supporting her in a roundabout kind of way, but Emma noticed he was flat out refusing to look at her... which stung, something had snapped between them and Emma really wasn't certain she'd ever be able to fix it.

Regina placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Because that one was destroyed Henry when the wraith attacked me, the last of its magic was exhausted when it transported Emma and Mary Margaret to the Enchanted Forest." She looked just as unsettled as Gold. "And besides Henry, this hat," she gave Emma a cursory glance, and Emma reflexively tightened her arms around the hat, feeling an irrational desire to protect it, "it clearly belongs to Miss Swan, much as the Hatter's was his. Whilst others might try and take them, may even borrow them for a time, it will always return to its rightful owner, it's guardian." Emma reflexively loosened her grasp on it, trying to resist her words but found she couldn't just drop it.

"Oh for heaven's sake," Emma muttered, getting to her feet, which she noted were surprisingly stable after her little outburst, she was usually exhausted after working magic like that. "So I have a magic hat I need to take care of now on top of all... this?" she held her hands out exasperatedly indicating the whole damn mess she seemed to have found herself in.

"Indeed you do Miss Swan. A hat that may well present a golden opportunity for the displaced residents of Storybrooke." Gold seemed to relish saying that in front of Regina who paled slightly, clearly the prospect of returning to the Enchanted Forest and retaking her mantle of Evil Queen wasn't sitting well with her.

"See!" Neal exclaimed startling them all, clearly like Emma they'd forgotten he was there as he got to his feet pointing between them all accusingly, "This is exactly why I kept off the radar. Magic is nothing but trouble." Neal muttered, pulling a beer from the fridge and opening it roughly, downing half a can before he glared back at them. "I changed my mind, I like this world, no way no how am I going back to the Enchanted Forest, I'll take the mod cons, a cell phone and Burger King, over a hovel and the tendency to get killed by horrible curses any day. That's my happy ending."

Hook gave him a resigned look his eyes on the beer can. "You got another one of those?"


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO**

The flight and drive back was terse. Neal was sat fairly unwillingly in the back seat, Hook was up front with her this time, leaving Gold and Regina to balance Henry on their knees between them. Not the most safe, but Emma wasn't in the mood for an argument as she floored the car literally squealing the wheels as she tore across the town line.

She barely stopped the car, just hand-braking it into a parking spot outside Mary Margaret and David's house, Emma stepped out, slamming forward the seat and ushering the slightly flustered looking passengers out until they were standing on the sidewalk staring at her.

"Miss Swan... really you should come inside, we need to discuss this."

Emma raised herself up to her full height and eyed Regina slowly as Henry pushed past her, hitting her quite deliberately with his shoulder as he did so and running up the front steps to ring the doorbell and summon his grandparents. Anything to be away from her it seemed.

"What's to discuss?" Emma snapped, pushing past Regina and sliding back into the driving seat, slamming the door soundly. Hook moved quickly, hopping back into the seat as she took off, barely letting him get the door shut. This trip had been too long already and if possible it seemed she had even more on her plate now than when she'd left... granted her magic didn't seem to want to devour her and any other magic it could get its hands on right now but the fact that she had her own nifty little hat just full to the brim with that same unstable magic wasn't encouraging. Nor was the fact that Henry hadn't said a word to her about a damn thing, not a peep, he wouldn't even look at her which was making her quietly nuts.

"You trying to set a new town speed record?" Hook asked, looking uneasy, and she smirked, his aversion to all modern modes of transport was actually quite endearing. But he didn't coddle her, didn't warn her to take it easy or any such nonsense, just let her work it out, which she appreciated as she screeched to a halt outside the docks.

Starkey emerged from the ship, like he'd been waiting for them to get back, his expression was grim.

Hook sighed. "Give us a minute Love." He muttered stepping out and sauntering over to the old pirate. Emma watched uneasily as Hook listened to what the other man was saying before roughly grabbing him around the throat and damn near lifting him off his feet. His roar of outrage made her reconsider getting out the car. But that would have just been chicken-shit of her, so Emma cut the engine and sidled out of the car, her instinct to stalk over to him stalled slightly when she realised that she was unable to simply leave _her_ damn hat in the boot of the car. Sighing heavily she wrenched open the boot and retrieved the hat, stopping short of putting it on her head, but grasping it firmly as she headed over.

"What is it now?" she muttered drawing close enough to hear Hook's snarling tone as he finally threw Starkey away from him, spluttering to get his breath back.

"It wasn't my fault Cap'tin." Starkey pleaded, standing up straight and looking genuinely irritated and a little unnerved. Jukes appeared on the side of the ship, his arms crossed, he looked thoroughly un-amused as Emma frowned at him, but his attention was entirely on Hook.

"Killian?" Emma prodded and he turned to her sharply, his lips pulled back in a sneer. "Don't try that shit on me!" She bit out and he checked himself, his rage subsiding enough for him to pull his mask back in place.

"Mutiny Love." He hissed.

Emma blinked. "Super." She muttered shaking her head, "Like I haven't had the longest two days of my life, why not add this to it..." the bite in her tone seemed to surprise Starkey who gave her a once over. The images of the last mutiny danced behind her eyes vividly and she pushed them away, surprised to find that the whole thing was not nearly as horrific to her as she remembered it being.

"The ships still here." Emma pointed out casually, "Starkey and Jukes, so I'm assuming they what, nicked all the rum and emptied the treasure coffers?"

Jukes hopped down over the side of the ship, landing solidly and striding over to them as Starkey answered her question.

"That Lass... and they skipped town."

Emma blinked. "And we're surprised?" she quirked an eyebrow at Hook. "Hell they haven't exactly got a function here Killian, they don't even have proper beds, the town had no room or inclination to house them, they were probably bored stiff."

Hook was restraining his snarl, clearly he wanted to rend something for this betrayal, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with his emotional whiplash right now. Hook it seemed wasn't willing to let it go, his hand went out and he grasped her by the front of her jacket, drawing her close.

"That was _my_ crew Love!" he hissed, "Mine."

Emma quirked an eyebrow at his hand fisted around her jacket, her expression making her thoughts about it quite clear. Finger by finger he uncurled his hand and stepped pointedly away from her, an apology not quite making it to his lips.

"Go drink it off." She snapped waspishly. "And when you come back we'll deal with the 'actual' problems, of which we have plenty!"

He stalked away without another word, taking Jukes and Starkey with him with one very pointed look, let it never be said that Hook didn't know when to retreat before he lost something vital.

Emma stared at the ship, which was eerily quiet. To be honest, she was actually pleased that the Pirate problem had resolved itself, Hook might have liked to try and keep the recent issues they'd been having to himself, but she wasn't entirely blind, they'd been stirring up more than a little trouble and bad feeling amongst the locals. Frustrations had been starting to boil over. To be frank, the best thing for everyone was them leaving town, they were sailors... they'd find a fishing crew somewhere, the pull of the sea dragging them back to their old love, the chances of them being seen as anything other than sailors would be remote. They had never been the sharpest tools in the box anyway. It was low risk to have them loose in the modern un-magical world.

But Hook was a stubborn ass that was going to see this as a betrayal, he'd probably want to hunt them down, retrieve his stolen property and remind them all the price of mutiny on board his ship. Although she imagined that would be difficult to do if she point blank refused to participate. Besides, the crew hadn't got all the treasure, she knew Hook had stashed some elsewhere the minute they'd docked... for a rainy day, and there was always her pearl which she knew he'd had made into a necklace that he'd been planning on surprising her with. For a quiet man, Jukes could have a surprisingly big mouth when he got a few glasses of rum in him, particularly when it was about Hook's plans for her.

Emma sighed, stalking to the edge of the pier and tossing her boots off, she rolled up her pant legs and sat down, dangling her legs in the freezing cold water, the hat placed purposely beside her. That was something she missed about Neverland... the crystal blue sea, the entirety of it a nice Caribbean temperature with the occasional squall to spoil your day... that and the way it had a tendency of turning her into a complete sociopath with the memory span of a goldfish.

"Can I join you?"

Emma bowed her head, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips, she'd really wanted peace and quiet, so of course her mother would show up.

"If you must." Emma replied patting the deck beside her as she removed the hat, placing it on her lap instead and not bothering to look up as Mary Margaret sat down cross legged beside her, apparently quite familiar with how damn cold the water was and deciding not to venture even a toe inside it.

But Mary Margaret didn't speak, didn't force questions and accusations on her, didn't try and ask her about what may or may not be happing inside her womb, or how much control she currently had over her magic and the evidence of it sat proudly on her lap in hat shape. They just sat in companionable silence as Mary Margaret wordlessly handed her a coffee, the decaff lid obvious but still unsaid as they watched the water lapping against the pier.

Emma finished her coffee, placing the empty cup beside her and keeping the hat in place on her lap, she reached out and grasped Mary Margaret's hand, squeezing it tightly and almost dissolving when she received an answering squeeze.

"I'm here." Her mother whispered quietly. "Always."

Emma nodded; for the first time in her life genuinely believing that and not being terrified of it.

Emma bowed her head, the buzz from the hat intensifying in the stillness. Emma wasn't one for profound moments of understanding, but she felt better more in control, her magic was there, but where before it had been a torrent, uncontrollable, now it was more like a gently meandering stream that could swell... but only when she stirred it. All that excess, wild, unpredictable magic that Neverland had tried to claim seemed to have become trapped in the far from harmless piece of fabric in her hands.

She wouldn't need the pendant anymore, she was sure of it, as sure as she was sat here perfectly calmly beside her mother.

Maybe this had been her purpose, the whole time she was supposed to create this... a way for the people of Storybrooke to finally go home.

"I want you to have this." Emma admitted, lifting up the hat and placing it gently on her mother's lap. "At least until we figure out what the hell to do with it." Emma risked looking up at her mother, surprised to see the calmness on her features. "You and David can protect it better than me right now. Just hide it or something, call a town meeting and ask people if they want to go home, or somewhere else... because the Enchanted Forest is kind of overrun with Ogre's right now." Not that she imagined that would be much of a problem for her extended family which apparently consisted of the Dark One and the Evil Queen... Cora wouldn't stand a chance and the Ogre's would be back under control in no time.

Mary Margaret wrapped her arm around the hat, looking a little overwhelmed, "okay." She breathed, seemingly unable to say anything else. Emma snorted, she knew that 'okay', she'd actually spent quite a lot of time around her mother... in her cursed state granted, but still, she knew that tone.

"Having second thoughts about going home Mother?" Emma met her surprised look head on.

Mary Margaret smiled quietly to herself; Emma wasn't sure if it was at the fact that she'd called her 'mother' or because she'd known what she was thinking.

"That depends, would you be coming with us?" It wasn't an idle question, Emma got the impression that her mother would quite literally follow her wherever she went, it was a comforting thought.

Emma sighed, "When all this first happened, when I broke the curse, before Neverland... before Hook," she smiled, "I would have said no. This is my world, it's the only one I know, it's where I belong."

Mary Margaret nodded, squeezing her hand again. "And now?"

Emma glanced at the hat. "Now I'm a freak, or rather I was born a freak; now it's just out in the open where everyone can see it."

"Emma." Mary Margaret scolded, "You are not a freak." The way she said it Emma got the distinct impression she could have sprouted a tail and wings and turned one hell of a shade of green and her mother would have said the exact same thing.

"I really am." Emma laughed gently; it felt good to laugh, even if it was at her own expense. "But in the Enchanted Forest... hell in a hundred other worlds, most people probably won't even notice it. But here?" Emma raised her eyebrows looking out across the bay to the very modern skyline across the way. "Here I'm a risk, a dangerous liability. I'm really not meant for this world."

Mary Margaret released her hand and slid it around her waist instead, Emma relented, leaning against her smaller frame and slotting her head against her shoulder, drawing comfort from the woman she should have always been able to as she held her close.

"As long as we're all together Emma, it'll be okay."

Emma nodded, pulling her ice cold feet out of the water and wrapping them beneath herself as she felt tears slide slowly down her cheeks making a gently expanding pool on Mary Margaret's shirt that her mother clearly chose to ignore.

"I take it you heard then... about all of it?" Mary Margaret nodded, clearly suppressing her reaction to the news that seemed to have exploded onto their family tree. "Sorry you had to hear about _Grandpa_ Rumple from Regina of all people, but I just couldn't take another conversation about that asshole of a son of his. I guess I'm also sorry we took off like that, all of us with Henry, I just wanted it over with, and Gold is kind of persuasive when he's motivated."

"You have nothing to be sorry about Emma. And Henry has wanted to..." she hesitated, "well he's been spending more and more time with Regina now so..." she trailed off, with a gentle shrug that wasn't quite able to hide the pain she clearly felt at that statement. Emma could relate; it seemed they were both being rejected by the kid, but then she supposed it was just coming full circle, they were just surrogates, standing in for Regina until she was ready to waltz back into his life... all forgiven, because she was his _mother_.

"I know that this may not be the best time," Mary Margaret started hesitantly after Emma's quiet tears had dried up, "But there's something I've been wanting to tell you for the last few weeks, I just haven't found the right time." Emma lifted her head, seeing the soft smile on Mary Margaret's face and wondering at it. "But now, well," She reached up and stroked Emma's cheek, brushing her hair behind her ear. "David and I, we're expecting a baby."

Emma was momentarily speechless, her first instinct she imagined was exactly how Henry had felt... replaced. But it was a fleeting thought, pushed hastily aside as a small flicker of elation began at the gentle pleasure she saw radiating out of her mother.

"That's wonderful." She whispered, her arms going out and hugging her mother tightly, trying to convey her genuine pleasure at the thought of them getting a second chance to be parents again.

"Emma, this doesn't mean that we love you any less." Mary Margaret tried, easing back so she could see her face and Emma laughed lightly.

"Of course not," she shook her head, "I'm not twelve." She reminded her pointedly, clearly Henry's reaction to this exact same issue had thrown Mary Margaret into crisis. "And besides," Emma lowered her head placing her own hand gently over her stomach, "It's not like you're going to be going through it alone."

"Have you told Henry?" Emma asked after they'd lapsed into thoughtful silence again.

Mary Margaret gave her a nervous look, "No, I was going to tell him when he got back, but after everything... I thought it might be best to wait."

Emma nodded. "Probably for the best." She admitted. "Is he still furious with me?"

"I don't think he's angry Emma, just..."

"Heartbroken." Emma nodded in understanding. "I told you I was bad for him. I only ever seem to cause him pain. I bought his father back into his life and in the next breath told him that I was having another child and shattering his dreams of reuniting his family."

"Emma you're his mother." Mary Margaret argued.

"I'm really not." Emma sighed, "I have no right to call myself that. I gave him up Mary Margaret, and not for noble reasons, he's not wrong, I didn't want him, which means I have no right to screw up his life further now."

"David and I..."

Emma cut her off, saving her the pain of trying to explain how things were changing, how Henry was old enough to make his own decisions... even if Regina was that decision. "You're his grandparents, and that's an important thing for him to have in his life and no one's arguing that you haven't done a great job with a bad situation, but his _mother_ is Regina. Whatever else she is, she raised him and she raised him well. He's good and strong and brave, he always thinks of others first, if you've seen his father and me, you know that those traits seem to have skipped a generation. Regina made him that, she might have been twisted into an evil bitch, but Henry makes her better, and she deserves the right to finish the job she started with Henry."

It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would saying that. It felt, right.

"Emma you can't actually mean that we give Henry back to Regina?"

"I'm not giving her anything, Henry is actively choosing her, choosing her over both of us, and after this weekend I don't blame him. Henry loves her; he wants to be with the mother that raised him, it just took him a while to get over the whole 'Evil Queen' that cursed a town business and made him feel like he was losing his mind."

"Emma she can't be trusted." Mary Margaret whispered, but it was half hearted, like even she wasn't sure she believed it anymore.

"With Henry she can." Emma argued, "Besides it's not like we're not going to be in his life, but we'll be in it the way we should be, as grandparents... as favourite aunts, as guardians, but neither of us has the right to claim him and we're just hurting him by trying."

Mary Margaret looked like she was chewing on something unpleasant. "He's going to think we're abandoning him." Mary Margaret sighed, looking ill at the thought of it "Replacing him, even just for suggesting it."

"This is his choice. We have to let him make it." Emma advised, "Besides, he's a smart kid, and he's not the type of boy to hold a grudge, look what he forgave Regina for. This time, we really are doing it to give him his best shot, he'll see that. He'll get what he wants, even if he doesn't realise right now that it's what he wants… a chance to write his own happy ending."


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER TWENTY THREE**

Hook returned to the ship stone cold sober. Emma was lying on the deck, staring up at the night's sky, imaging what it would be like to look up at another sky again. Neverland's sky had always unnerved her, now she understood why, it clearly spoke to the wild magic inside of her, it's complete untamed, unyielding and ever changing colours and features luring her in.

Hook's heavy foot falls across the deck growing closer were comforting and Emma found herself raising her hand to her stomach almost absentmindedly. He came to stand over her, it was a sign of his unease that he didn't open with a quip, didn't take advantage of her position by sliding his lithe, sinfully attractive form over her. He simply stood, watching her watch the dark sky and stroke her still flat stomach.

She knew he was sober, there was no tell tale trace of rum clinging to him, no stale smoke from a bar, wherever he had been, it wasn't drinking.

Emma sighed "I take it you've reconsidered how this little mutiny is nothing but a good thing for us?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the dark sky.

She heard him huff, but he took her words for the invitation they were and slid down to sit with his back propped up against the side of the ship as he reached out, brushing his fingers through her splayed hair the way he always did when deep in thought. Emma closed her eyes against the feel of his hand sliding to her scalp, feather light and yet somehow reassuringly solid.

"I'm sor..." he started and Emma cut him off grasping his wandering fingers and squeezing.

"Don't say it Killian, don't make a liar of yourself, not now." She muttered, her voice softening fractionally as she let go of the anger that had been so quick to flare with him earlier, after all, she understood, she'd seen his reaction to the last mutiny, if anything she should have been pinning a medal onto his chest for the restraint he'd shown this time. Emma slid her fingers across his palm staring up at him as he gazed down at her like she held the secrets of the Universe; or at least his Universe. It was a look Emma had spent a lifetime searching for and never truly expected to find, least of all with a man like Killian, yet here it was. "You can't help what you are." Emma told him softly, remembering exactly how he'd said the same thing to her when she'd been at her worst. "But you try anyway, for me... I know what that means Killian, and I'm not fool enough to throw it away."

Hook fell quiet, his fingers only momentarily stilling before he slid them up to her scalp, brushing through the golden tumble distractedly a soft smile playing across his face as his hand shifted, tracing down the length of her neck slowly, down the hollow of her throat and between her breasts causing her to suck in a breath against the sensation as his warm hand flattened over hers, held in place over her own hand.

"So, my Lass is having a little Lass." He breathed, leaning in to press a searing kiss to her lips that she felt right down to her toes as he slid his body down beside hers, the feel of the leather he wore was so achingly familiar against her that she couldn't imagine not wanting him there. "Perfect." He breathed, breaking the kiss to ensure that she could see his face, unmasked as it was... to share the joy he was feeling.

"I know, I kind of feel bad, the poor thing is going to have no chance sneaking a guy in." Hook smirked.

"Oh I'd be fair Love, give a suitor a sporting chance at least." It was Emma's turn to smirk, fair was really not in his vocabulary.

"You think we can do this then?" Emma asked, her pensive mood sliding back over her unbidden as she stared up at him, feeling his hand tighten reflexively over hers. "Be a _real_ family, raise a kid?"

Hook was still beside her, his fingers linking with hers. "We're already a family Love. What I feel, there's nothing more real than that. This," he moved her hand, sliding his beneath her shirt and placing his firmly against her skin. "This is _our_ magic, _our_ adventure and I'll fight for it... always."

Emma pressed a kiss to his stubbled chin, trying to convey everything she was feeling and barely managing a fraction of it, but he seemed to appreciate the gesture as he dropped his head to her chest, listening to the rhythmic pounding of her heart.

"The news about the portal has hit the town." He informed her quietly, pulling her slightly out of the moment as she refocused her brain on their other issues. "It seems your mother has called a town meeting, wants to give the people the choice the Curse stole from them."

Emma sighed. "I know, she was here. We came to some agreements." Emma informed him, smiling to herself at the memory.

Hook inched forward propped his head up with his arm beside her, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the pendant, holding it aloft over her chest a question on his lips.

"I don't need it." Emma informed him quietly of what she suspected he already knew, she was certain he could sense the change in her. The pendant glinted and Emma tried not to flinch, every fibre in her being telling her to get away from the thing... to protect the 'bad burrito' she'd been so willing to dismiss only yesterday.

"Fair enough Love. Nice souvenir though, for a rainy day." He added, smiling wanly as he slipped it inside his shirt, Emma smirked; doubting Gold was ever going to see that again. And maybe he was right, better to have it than not in case she ever relapsed.

"So are you tempted... by the hat?" Emma pressed, curious, because she might find it difficult to stay in this world, but she couldn't very well leave without him.

"A Universe... maybe an infinite one, of infinite possibilities?" he smirked. "All under the control of my very own Queen..." He winked seductively at her, "I'm upgrading you lass, Princess is for the 'little burrito in your belly'," he pressed a kiss to said belly. "Oh I am most definitely tempted Love." He lifted his head, pressing a kiss to the end of her nose, his playful side one of his rare gifts to her, "I'm a Pirate. Somewhere out there is a world made entirely of ocean, just waiting for me to tame."

"And you think your Queen's going to traipse after you, the 'little burrito' slowly turning her into the size of a small whale." Emma quirked an eyebrow at him, half serious.

"Please, like you could watch me sail off into the distance and not follow me to the end of the next Earth." Hook teased.

"You gonna ask?" Emma asked pointedly, turning her head to look at him her breath catching as she stared at him now, illuminated only by the moonlight and the distant glow of a streetlight from the town. He was truly one of the most beautiful men she'd ever met, her fingers rose unbidden and she traced his features his eyes fluttering shut as she did so. Emma just wished that his outward perfection extended inwards... but then she supposed it was his contradiction that attracted her so much, besides she suspected that if he was that beautiful inside she highly doubted he'd still want her. Not as damaged as she was.

"What would you have me ask you Love?" he leant in his eyes opening and searing her with the intensity and mischief dancing in them with equal measure.

"Where I want to go?" Emma quirked an eyebrow at him, seeing his lips quirk fractionally.

"And I thought you wanted another kind of question altogether Love?" He pressed a longing kiss to her lips and Emma couldn't resist reaching up and holding the back of his head, keeping him close.

They broke away naturally and Emma smiled up at him, trying to let him see the difference now her insides weren't a roiling seething mess of madness. "I was fairly sure we'd already sealed that particular deal." Emma smirked, seeing his surprised face, "What?" she teased, "You didn't mean it when we said those midnight vows at spear point?" Her parents would certainly never of approved of those particular nuptials... or the groom she imagined, in fact they'd strenuously argued it when he'd let it slip the last time, maybe that was half the fun of it.

Hook's honest smile was heartbreaking in its rarity as he kissed her softly, finally taking advantage of her position as he rolled her over him, drawing her into his embrace and holding her closer and softer than she could ever recall him doing. They were rarely tender with another, probably she suspected because it left them both horribly vulnerable to the other, even if they trusted each other implicitly, it had always been that one wall they found hard to breach.

"How about I give you this anyway, you can consider it a promise." He whispered, pressing a kiss to the end of her nose and holding up a delicate gold ring that now held the perfect pearl that seemed to have become their talisman.

Emma stared down at him, sitting up so that she was straddling his hips as she considered. "I thought you were going for a necklace with that?" she teased and he ignored her, reaching for her hand.

"Like I'd tell Jukes my plan, the pair of you are like nattering old nags when you get together with the rum." He paused, holding his breath and meeting her eyes as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Does this make me _yours?_" Emma half joked, throwing his earlier words about the crew back at him.

"Please Lass, you've been mine since you tied me to a tree and held a blade to my throat just to keep me at your side."

"Pirate." Emma muttered with affection, admiring the ring for a fraction before she leant forward, wondering if perhaps a Pirate King could ever trump a Fairytale Prince? Personally she thought it was a no brainer.

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They voted yes.

They voted home.

Emma stood in front of the whole town her hat in hand, struck down with the worst case of performance anxiety she'd ever experienced. Every single person silent, waiting for her to rescue them, to send them to the one place in the world that was _theirs_.

Regina, Rumple and her extended family were beside her, the two formerly most powerful people of this realm she was opening a portal to, powerless to do nothing but stand by and watch.

There had been only two people that had chosen 'no', chosen to stay in this world that had been her home for 29 years. Rumple and Belle. Rumple had promised to stand by Emma now to make sure that what little help he could be in returning them was offered, but that was all. His bastard son beside him, beaming like everything was finally right in his world as his father finally made the choice her should have made hundreds of years ago... family over magic.

Emma had been surprised that Regina hadn't elected to make a similar choice, given her history and the bad feeling of the townspeople. Plus Henry wasn't really cut out for a world of magic and danger, he was far too curious a kid, far better for them both to stay here in Emma's opinion, after all, she had the hat now, she could return to this world as easy as hopping on a bus to see him. But apparently Regina wasn't done with her redemption bid, she had stood before the town, told them she knew their forgiveness was not a thing she could ever ask for, but that she would try and help rebuild the world they were heading back to. That if nothing else she would see to it that her mother and the ogres running amok wouldn't trouble them.

It was a nice thought, Emma just hoped that with the temptation of her rampant magic back in the enchanted forest Regina could live up to it... but then she'd have Henry to help her. The kid had categorically chosen Regina. He'd taken Emma's hand, stood there his eyes dry, looking far too grown up for his twelve years and told her he was going with his real mother and that he hoped she would still be there to see him grow up, because he wanted her in his life, even if she hadn't wanted him... that had stung and Emma's eyes hadn't remained as dry as the kid's, even Regina had looked uneasy with his statement. But it was his choice, even if right now it was being made out of anger and disappointment, Emma was sure it was the right one. And if Regina failed him... failed to be nothing other than the best of herself, for his sake, then she'd have nothing less than an army of Royal guards and some seriously pissed family to deal with.

It made her choice easier. For the time being, Emma and Hook would follow with their family, they would help rebuild this world that Emma was certain would never be her home, she and her mother would stay side by side, slowly swelling with their respective pregnancies. But she was under no illusions that it would just about end Killian, to stay in one place so long... she wasn't so sure it wouldn't do the same to her, but they owed it to the 'bad burrito' to at least try and give her a normal few years, at least until she was old enough to go wandering. Killian had already taken a jaunt into her little hat before the others, poking his head through what appeared to be endless series of doors to see the possibilities within and planning just how he intended to explore and potentially plunder each one of them... one day, just the three of them.

Emma tossed the hat into the centre of main street, pushing her will and seeing the Enchanted Forest in her mind, feeling her thoughts and very self reach out and touch the other place, its magic suffusing her and pulling her inwards as she resisted, until the magic exploded outward, the hat engulfing the floor of main street, one giant swirling hole of magic, limited only by the size of her ability to control it. It pulled and she pushed, holding it in place.

"Now." Emma called out. "Everyone in, because honestly I have no idea how long this will hold."

Snow and David went first, a leap of faith for their lost Kingdom, leading their people one last time, and slowly and entire town of people emptied, whatever they could carry in hand, a few chests of medical supplies, some technology, books that might change the way they did things over there for the better... or not. Personally she wasn't so sure that the modern world would be a benefit to them, that it would just bring more problems than it solved, but who was she to tell them not to bring the penicillin and the knowledge of how to make it again.

Everyone went through, Regina and Henry were last, the kid gave his deadbeat father one long hug, whatever whispered words they shared, were between them alone. It hurt to see him accept the man as his father, when she was being pointedly rejected. But at least he wasn't coming with them, if it was a goodbye, then that she could handle, she supposed the kid deserved a decent one of those at least with the bastard father he'd be unlikely to see again, because she sure as hell wasn't going to be making him a portal to visit anytime soon.

Henry looked at her across the portal, his hand gripped in Regina's, and he smiled. Emma smiled back, trying to imagine what it was he was thinking and coming up blank, but he gave her a small nod, and without hesitating they jumped together into her portal... maybe they'd work it out after all, in time.

"Ready Love?" Killian slid his hand into hers, looking across at Rumple and his long lost family, his desperate desire to rend them even now, still clearly etched into every inch of his features. But he resisted, his hand tightening in hers, as he chose to give up his chance at revenge, for what might well be the last time.

"For ogre's, magic and castles that lack central heating..." Emma sighed, "Why not."

They jumped, hand in hand, the portal closing behind them, leaving nothing but a ghost town, full of the now silenced history of another world that would become little more than stories to this one.

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**Author's** **note**: There will be a brief epilogue, so stay tuned, and thank you all for coming on this journey with me, hope you enjoyed it.


	24. Chapter 24

_**Epilogue**_

The hat spun wildly, Emma paused observing it, she still wasn't used to the sensation it evoked when it opened, like her soul was in that one instant, split, between hundreds of worlds, hundreds of possibilities... the thread of her magic tasting different in each one.

"Now Love?" Killian gave her a questioning look, the green eyes of the raven haired girl in his arms fixing on her with curiosity as she wrapped her arms around his neck tighter, she already knew the drill, she'd been to more worlds in her short life than most people could even dream about.

"Are we going to Wonderland again mummy?"

Emma smirked, reaching out and brushing her finger down her daughters nose. "No Princess, definitely not."

"Not until you learn that something with the word 'eat me' on it is clearly a trap." Killian snorted, lifting her slightly higher and groaning with the effort; she was getting too big to be carried. "Honestly Alice." Killian added bemused pressing a kiss to her hair. "Are you a Pirate's daughter or not?"

"I thought I was a Princess." Alice muttered, looking sulky, which never bode well, she didn't like being reminded of that little 'accident', apparently spending almost two weeks the size of a door mouse had taught her a lesson though.

Killian rolled his eyes and dropped her onto her feet keeping hold of her hand as Emma grasped her other. "You _are_ a Princess, for today anyway." Emma smiled down at her, "We're going to see Grandma and Grandpa at their palace."

"Will Henry be there?" she asked jumping up and down on the spot with excitement as she eyed the newly opened portal with eagerness.

"Fraid not little buritto." Killian replied. "You know he has a Kingdom to run, he's probably still out making nice with the locals trying to convince them his Evil Queen of a mother has changed."

"Killian." Emma hissed, "Don't call Regina that." She hated it when he referred to her that way, she really didn't want Alice to be tainted by what the woman was, and not who she was now. Even if the two did still occasionally blur; particularly in the wardrobe department, which Alice was just a little too fond of. Something about the dresses...

Killian shrugged, he wasn't going to give Alice the opportunity to trust Regina if her could help it, he liked her to keep a healthy suspicion around dangerous people, but he relented slightly. "Or he's possibly slaying the local Dragon population that resurged, guess all that training you and I gave him is paying off." He winked at his daughter and she beamed.

Emma bent her head down to make a promise to Alice, "We'll go visit Henry and Regina next time."

"Maybe not right away." Killian interjected, "I thought we might go sail the Eastern Ocean of Narnia for a while." he was talking to Alice, but his eyes were fixed on Emma and she smirked slightly at the way they lit up with the prospect of the sea, of adventure. Easy for him to say, he wasn't the one that got the magical whiplash with every world they stepped on.

Not that she'd miss it for anything. She loved their life, because it was _theirs_.

Killian stroked a hand through Alice's dark hair, seemingly not noticing the flecks of starlight that Emma tried not to see. "But we only get to go sailing under the black sails if you're a good girl, who minds her p's and q's and behaves like a little Princess for the day so that your mother can make nice with the Royal in-laws."

"Spose I can put up with Little Miss-Pouts-a-lot for a little while." Alice muttered, ignoring the moment her parents were trying to have over her head.

"Alice." Emma sighed, exasperated. "How many times have I told you not to call Ava that. Your practically sisters."

"Doesn't mean I have to like her." Alice all but whined. "She's so snobby... and _girly._ If she makes me play with those blasted china tea cups one more time!"

"Oy swearing!" Emma sighed, having long given up trying to wash her mouth out with soap, she was a Pirate's daughter; she supposed it went with the territory. "Why don't you try and teach her the sword again."

Alice huffed. "She'll only hurt herself... again." Emma tried to suppress the amused smirk, Ava really hadn't inherited much of Snow and David's fire, but she was still young, maybe she'd grow out of the pampered princess thing, she was after all her sister... no matter how different their ages.

"Are we going to just stand around here all day, I don't imagine keeping that thing open is the best thing for your mothers mood little lass." Hook indicated the flickering portal, which Emma refocused her attention on. It was almost too easy now to hold it open, to direct her will into it and reach out and touch the world she desired on the other side, connecting it to hers; wherever hers happened to be. Practice makes perfect she supposed.

"Sorry mommy." Alice sighed, her wide eyes on the portal, barely containing her excitement which seemed to mirror her fathers, she was always far too pleased to jump into the swirling vortex of magic. This was clearly Emma's own fault for having the stupidity to allow Killian to name her Alice. She knew that was going to bite her in the ass, but it wasn't like she had a choice; he'd had genuinely no idea about the significance of the name he'd proposed as they'd explored Wonderland, and she, whether she wanted it or not, understood magic and fairytales. Apparently she'd found her daughters role in her very own, and the tales had to come from somewhere, fighting them just made it worse... typical her daughters had to be the one with the drugged food and drink. But given as Cora had fled back to Wonderland and was still ruling the place as the miserable Queen of Hearts with a little too much 'off with their heads action' she was keeping Alice out of there until she was old enough and had far better sword skills.

Emma pressed a kiss to the top of her head, squeezing her hand lightly, "You don't have to be sorry sweetie. Remember now, take a deep breath."

"And think happy thoughts." Killian smirked, sharing the memory with her as Emma gazed back. They'd done it. They'd actually built a family... and so far they hadn't screwed it up. Not that she'd say it out loud, just in case it jinxed the whole thing. But it turns out Pirate's really were better than Prince's... or at least a hell of a lot more fun.

She jumped, hand in hand with her family, she didn't even need to dig deep to think happy thoughts anymore, they were just there. Apparently Happy Endings really did happen... every now and again, so long as you were willing to fight for them.

_- fin -_

**Authors Note**: That's all folks! Many thanks for those of you who have stuck with me to finish this fic, despite the waning canon of our ship. But we can live in hope.

Thank you to those of you who have reviewed. I am despite what people think, not a planner, I have never planned a story, just the initial idea (Emma goes to Neverland), they just happen chapter by chapter and so your reviews are absolutely key in directing the outcome of the story, because they help keep me inspired and guide me as to what people really want to see and how they feel about what is happening. So please feel free to let me know, the good and the bad, it all helps to make me hopefully a better writer.

Also, as this fic was written a while ago and has changed substantially since the initial premise I was thinking about updating the blurb, to make it better reflect the tone and content of the finished article. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to leave them in the review section or PM me.

Thanks all, hopefully will see you again soon when the muse next strikes.


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